Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘The King’s Speech’, which is at Birmingham Repertory Theatre until Saturday 7th Match 2015
At the standing ovation at Birmingham Repertory Theatre the other night it seemed to me that not only were we applauding the actors…but, deep down, we were paying an even greater tribute to characters they played.
You can’t but feel sorry for the old King. George VI evidently had little appetite for monarchy. If it hadn’t been for his brother’s hedonism, he could have led a quiet life. Instead he and the Queen Mother were thrust into the limelight to guide a terrified nation through 6 years of horror… leading the psychological war from the front line by refusing to be evacuated from London. The morning after an East End air raid, they’d be seen stumbling through the rubble.
He was seriously ill equipped by his persistent stammer; making public speaking an absolute nightmare. Pathe Newsreel of his Wembley stadium speech shows him to be hesitant. But the public only saw heavily edited highlights. Recently released uncut footage reveals the full extent of his impediment, and is painful to watch.
The diligent author of this work…originally a play, then a famous film, and now an excellent play once more … was a childhood stammerer himself. David Seidler is also a fan of George the Sixth and so writes with commensurate authority. The script is superbly researched and painstakingly assembled into tight, encapsulated scenes.
Important elements cut from the film are re-instated on stage. I learned that George the Fifth had an ‘assisted’ passage, so the news would break for The Times – rather than the Evening rags. It clearly shows how much the monarchy was in the hands of the politicians; not just Churchill and Baldwin, but Archbishop Cosmo Lang. Seidler has the stuffed shirts commentating irreverently from the sidelines. It’s very funny, but constitutionally alarming. They were Muppets managing puppets.
So the new King had much to prove … and what really comes out of this stage version is how his irascible speech therapist Lionel Logue not only got him back behind the microphone but also sowed the seeds of social change. After his brush with this brash Australian, the King’s attitude to etiquette was never the same again. He was double empowered.
Jason Donovan need not have been Jason Donovan. In fact I quickly forgot he was. He simply came across as a seasoned, serious actor playing an upstart colonial, who slowly recognises the vital importance of his mission. He’s in no way star struck by his client, but he is prepared to put his life on hold to help this man who just happens to be a king. There are some very telling scenes between he and his anti-royalist wife Myrtle (played with sparse precision by Katy Stephens) where Seidler’s dialogue subtly demonstrates the private dilemma underlying the bigger story; which is, of course, the growing mutual respect between the two men.
Raymond Coulthard is every inch a King….isolated by his position and affliction. He’s a rod of iron with a steely stare…with just a hint of the affable John Le Mesurier. When Logue talks about friendship, George painfully has to admit he doesn’t have any friends. “We are bred to be profiles on a coin”, he says, “and not to fall off a horse.” And certainly not to have to speak in public.
He has a haunted look; trapped by propriety and protocol. Why is he learning to speak? Does he secretly crave the throne? Does he look at his sibling’s waywardness and feel the nation’s need? And is he aware of the issue of his brother’s ‘issue’? Edward had chickenpox as a child. There could be a problem with his succession. The family had already felt the pain of Prince John’s epileptic demise.
Coulthard gives a wonderfully measured performance, and director Roxana Silbert has him speaking with hesitation rather than a stammer (which could have been very wearing). And the final King’s speech in the huge wooden panelled BBC studio – with his critics all around him – is a tearful moment. It’s so powerful you can easily believe that the future of the nation depended on his performance. For Logue has given George not only the power to stand up to a microphone, but also to his government and the church.
It’s a marvellous play…much more focussed than the film…gently entertaining and utterly absorbing. And, from our vantage point here in the future, it’s one of those hugely powerful evenings where the audience understands more about the story than its characters possibly can.
Photo ; Hugo Glendinning
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