James Karas
Alas, poor
Charles, we know thee well. Thou hast the distinction of being the longest
serving Prince of Wales and were married to Diana, Princess of Wales,
beautiful, not too bright and beloved of the people. You are not the sharpest knife in the royal drawer either and with
your stiff bearing, floppy ears and frequent overextensions of your limited
intellectual prowess, you earned our neglect of you.
But not forever.
Mike Bartlett has paid you the compliment of writing a futuristic play set in
the imaginary, if not too far off future, when you are King Charles III. The
programme cover promises that this is a “JOVIAL POLITICAL SATIRE” and we
believe it.
The Queen is dead and the cast of King Charles III are there. Photo by David Cooper.
As it must, King
Charles III opens with the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II and the
accession of Prince Charles to the throne. The new king is asked to perform one
of his traditional roles that of signing his assent to legislation passed by
parliament. The new law purports to limit the freedom of the press. The king, who
is supposed to be a serious, principled and an intelligent monarch, refuses to
give his assent and thus precipitates a serious constitutional crisis. Not too
many laughs so far.
The Prime
Minister and the Leader of the Opposition state that the King has no right to
refuse to sign the legislation and the king is just as adamant that he will not
do it. How will we get out of this quandary?
We have a
subplot involving Prince Harry who
mixes with the people, falls in love with a commoner whose naked-in-bed photos
are available for publication and who does her best to appear obnoxious. He
wants to give up everything and live with her like a normal worker. In other
words he takes Windsor family thickness some distance down from the low norm.
Bartlett’s play
creaks on with an almost empty tank as he tries to manufacture material to keep
it chugging along. Jovial political satire? Let me know if you find any. This
is a serious constitutional and political impasse that could dispatch the
British monarchy to the dustbin of history. Caution: spoiler. The king makes
the crisis worse by using an ancient right of his to dissolve parliament. There
is violence in the streets, hints of military takeover, perhaps civil war and our
concern for the outcome causes our blood pressure to soar downwards.
The play may be
better than it seemed in this production. The Stanley Industrial Alliance
Stage’s acoustics made some of the actors sound as if they spoke in a tunnel.
Some of them failed to enunciate or speak loudly enough and that is not a great
recommendation.
Ted Cole’s King
Charles III who gives the initial impression of being smart and principled
turns out to be a weakling who commands neither authority nor regal majesty. But
Bartlett tells us that he is also a troubled and articulate workaholic We agree
with his position on the restriction of press freedom but he does not convince
us. He reminded me of Shakespeare’s Richard II who took his anointment
seriously and thought that he was appointed by God.
Simon Webb as
Prime Minister Evans is a caricature of a leftist with his ill-fitting grey suit
and bow tie and boorish manners. Christine Wiles as the Leader of the
Opposition is a classic politician who talks from both sides of her mouth
without stretching a muscle.
Charles Rice
with his rumbling voice plays the tall Prince William but we could have done
with more consistent enunciation. Katherine Gauthier’s Kate is a clever,
touchy-feely and manipulative feminist.
Ted Cole and Gwynyth Walsh in King Charles III. Photo by David Cooper.
Charlie
Gallant’s Prince Harry in a red wig and a plebeian Jess (Agnes Tong) is a
caricature of the dumb royal as is Jess of the common people.
The play has
numerous Shakespearean overtones, none
so bizarre as the appearance of a Ghost (Lauren Bowler). This is the ghost of
Diana who is very corporeal as she hugs and kisses her son William and Charles.
She mysteriously tells both of them that they will be the greatest kings ever.
Jovial satire, eh?
Gwynyth Walsh
appears as Camilla wearing a ridiculous hat in the first scene but settles down
to being a supportive wife of the hapless Charles.
The play is done
on an empty stage designed by Kevin McAllister dominated by a large copper globe
with a cross on top symbolizing the crown.
Kevin Bennett
expresses his enthusiasm for the play in the programme but it may have seemed
better in his imagination than he has brought on the stage. The play may have
nuggets of humour and appear less sluggish in a different production. As it is
in this production, it makes for a bad night at the theatre.
___________
King Charles III by Mike Bartlett, in a production by Arts Club Theatre Company,
continues until November 19, 2017 at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage,
2750 Granville St. Vancouver, B.C.
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