The King’s Speech, Highbury Theatre Centre Review

Written by Charis for Theatre and Tonic.

Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review. All opinions are our own.

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The King’s Speech is a historical theatre piece focussed on a turbulent time in British history 1924-39. Shortly into the piece, King George V dies, and the elder son, David (later King Edward VIII) becomes the king, forcing “Bertie” (later King George VI) the second son much closer to the public and press than he had ever hoped to be. 

David, played by Richard Constable, is a mean-spirited and self-centred King, forcing Bertie played by Phil Nooney, into public speaking engagements and press obligations without any practice. Bertie unfortunately suffers from a severe stammer, often being mocked as “B-B-Bertie”, or being yelled at to “spit it out”. It is through this ridicule and development of his place in the royal family leading to more public appearances, that we are introduced to Lionel Logue played by Mark Natrass.

Lionel is a speech specialist and has rather humorous arguments with Princess Elizabeth played by Katie Ho regarding his methods of treating clients as equals, discovering ways to avoid stammering focusing on swearing or singing as a technique, and his general lack of understanding of royal protocols.

Nooney’s portrayal of speech impediments is done highly respectfully, whilst also showing just how debilitating and embarrassing individuals can feel. The progress Bertie makes throughout his treatment feels well and truly earned, and by the close of the piece, Nooney’s speech very accurately captures the cadence of recordings of King George VI. 

With King Edward VIII’s short reign due to his abdication, Bertie is thrust towards taking the throne, which he fears will result in public disaster placing the United Kingdom in danger from Hitler, however, his triumph over the worst of his stutter becomes truly inspirational. Nooney delivers both the speech that changed public perceptions, as well as the titular “king’s speech” remarkably well. 

This piece is an amateur production, and is based on the David Seidler production, and the performance uses footage taken from the historical archival footage site Pathe, as well as playing the original radio recording of “The King’s Speech”, which was truly delightful to see. As a historian myself I believe that this approach was absolutely the correct approach for important historical moments and reminds the audience that the story is real. 

Due to being an abridged version of the screenplay, some of the detail of the history can feel somewhat lost to those who do not know the historical context. The details behind the political situation of Europe, and the constitutional issues faced by both Edward and George were somewhat glossed over for the sake of the run time, however without understanding the historical context, and political and social etiquette of the royal family, the piece can feel disarticulate.

Bertie should have been the focus of the piece, however due to the writing of the piece by Seidler, it can feel more as though he is a passenger to Lionel’s story, which is not to say that their story is not shown beautifully, and their interactions together are truly emotive. The growing relationship between the two is admirable to see, and truly allows one to feel the depth of their friendship by the end, with the appointment of his MVO after the coronation in 1937 and later a CVO in 1944.

A large number of other characters feel either completely background or simply do not get enough time to be explored, King Edward’s story has true depth, and Richard Constable portrays the character well according to the writing as an “arrogant, insincere…swine” but due to the lack focus on Edward VIII, we unfortunately do not get to see more of his own state of mind and the difficulties he faced between love and duty. Performing a piece as influential as The King’s Speech, especially after the hugely successful 2010 film, was a bold undertaking. The abridged version is based on the original of the film’s screenplay, as when producing the piece, Seidler’s original work could not be found. The media blackout of the period surrounding the events of Edward VIII’s abdication, and the overall privacy of the royal family also created some difficulty and speculation of the true history of the events that led to George VI’s monarchy. While the piece therefore could not fully follow the history, it is still a well enjoyable piece for history fans, and Highbury Theatre’s efforts gained success.

At Highbury Theatre Centre until 21 September 2024.

★ ★ ★.5