King Charles III

Rupert Goold's adaptation of Mike Bartlett's Tony Award-nominated play imagines a brief yet tumultuous reign of the current Prince of Wales following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Intending to be a more active participant in government affairs than his late mother, the new King Charles immediately creates a political crisis by refusing to provide the ceremonial royal assent to a media censorship law that has passed in Parliament. He also breaks with tradition by holding weekly meetings with the opposition leader as well as the Prime Minister. Meanwhile, his younger son, Prince Harry, becomes romantically involved with a black woman who holds anti-monarchist views, and Harry is so smitten that he seeks to renounce his royal status and become a commoner. And if that is not enough, Prince William and his wife Kate appear to be a little too eager to see Charles's reign brought to an abrupt stop. Plus, Princess Diana's ghost haunts Buckingham Palace. It's all fairly melodramatic, and this adaptation clearly shows its theatrical roots, complete with blank-verse dialogue and intense soul-searching soliloquies delivered by the title character, who is played with a tinge of Shakespearean angst by Tim Piggot-Smith in his final role. Still, Anglophiles will definitely be eager to see this. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)