CAST

King George- Joseph Judd

Queen Charlotte - Polly Harley

Pitt- Eve Woodall 

Dr Willis - Fred Baker 

Prince of Wales - William Page 

Fox- Samuel Morris

Thurlow/Fortnum- Kate Fraser

Dr Baker- Matthew Heppel 

Warren/Burke - Sara Rydberg 

Dundas/Braun - Liam Speak

Fitzroy/ Pepys - Lawrence Rui Xi 

Greville - Chan Ka Hei Alex

Sheridan- Sally O'Hara Sheader 

Papandiek/ Ramsden - Ellie Knight 

Lady Pembroke/Margret Nicholson - Daisy Powell 

Duke of York / Boothby /Footman/Page/Maid - Anna Martin

Review 

As this is my first time writing a review, there’s a small and honestly rather ugly part of myself that

wanted the show to be bad, so that I could write some snarky line like “The Madness of George III

drove me mad” or something. Hardly original, but there you go.

Well, that mean part of my mind shall have to remain disappointed because SUTCo’s The Madness

of George III was utterly fantastic, in every sense of the word. I have the attention span of a

particularly energetic fly, and yet I was enraptured by the whole thing, unable to take my eyes off

the stage.

I’ll start in the obvious place, with Joseph Judd’s leading performance as King George. He plays His

Majesty in such a way that it is impossible not to feel sympathy for him as he gradually loses his

mind, and in such a way that (spoilers for history I suppose) when he recovers at the end of the play

the audience can only feel a great sense of catharsis. It is a completely fantastic performance, and all

I can say is that I hope Joseph Judd continues acting because it would just be a crime if he were to

permanently hang up his dinosaur onesie.

Speaking of dinosaur onesies (and never thought I’d write that in a theatre review) I also have to give

a great deal of praise to Polly Harley as Queen Charlotte. I admit I wasn’t immediately grabbed by

her performance the same way as I was for her stage husband, but that quickly went away when I

saw how effective she was in some of the show’s more dramatic scenes. She absolutely nailed them,

and I never doubted for a second that she was a wife distressed over her husband’s illness. And

Harley and Judd have phenomenal chemistry, both dramatic and comedic – the latter best

exemplified in a scene near the end of the play where they both rant about their son Prince George

as soon as he is out of sight.

While these two performances were clear standouts that drew much of the show’s attention, I

would like to emphasise that this was a show with no weak links in its chain. It is, perhaps, a chain

that was made from several different materials, with those of Judd and Harley being made of

diamond or something, but even the less prominent links like Anna Martin’s assorted servant roles

or Jena Smith’s Duke of York are still links of a strong iron that is unlikely to break. The old saying is

that there are no small parts, only small actors, and SUTCo’s show has no small actors.

There are some other links in this metaphorical chain that we seem to have landed upon that I

should consider to be made of a strong platinum, perhaps. William Page as the Prince of Wales is a

delightfully hateable spoiled child, who we would all bully if we knew them in real life, and he is

effective as an antagonist due to holding the upper class idiosyncrasies of the king without carrying

the same likeable qualities. Although I’m sure Page is a nice person in real life. Continuing with the

antagonists, Samuel Morris as Fox has a smaller role but obviously has fun with it, chewing just

enough scenery that it can still be used by everyone else when he’s done. Sally O’Hara Sheader

likewise plays an effective right hand to Fox.

The quote unquote good politicians were also excellent. Liam Speak is excellent as both Dundas and

Braun (I confess I’m bad with names and I forget which is which), giving both very different

inflections, mannerisms, and accents (I could not tell which, if either, accent was real). Eve Woodall’s

performance of Pitt, a prime minister at his wit’s end, was supremely engaging – and considering

that the main motive of the character is simply to stay in power, it’s a testament that Woodall made

the audience root for it. And then there is Kate Fraser as Lord Thurlow, who despite not giving a

performance as bombastic as some of the others, gave one that was very genuine and believable,

supremely enjoyable.

I realise I am beginning to fill up a lot of space, but I do wish to mention everyone, so I’ll stop trying

to be clever with the way I link everyone and just start with the praise.

Fred Baker as Doctor Willis had the firmness and compassion each required for his character, and

had excellent chemistry with the king. Matthew Heppell as Doctor Baker nailed some of the more

comedic lines that come with his part, especially when drinking urine. Sara Rydberg as Warren and

Burke gave two strong performances for two quite different characters. Lawrence Rui Xi brought a

sternness to his role as Captain Fitzroy that was very effective for the character, and also had a

hilarious unhinged energy as Dr Pepys. Especially when drinking urine. Chan Ka Hei Alex as Greville

had some great moments of physical comedy in his movements, and was an effective dramatic

anchor in some of the king’s wilder moments. Ellie Knight as Papandiek and Ramsden was quite

simply, funny. And Daisy Powell as the Lady Pembroke made an effective confidant to his majesty

thanks to some excellent chemistry that belied a long held tension and was far more than

compelling.

Almost done I promise, but I want to quickly praise the behind the scenes team, because they did an

excellent job keeping everything running as it was supposed to. I also would like to note the

excellent costuming and praise whoever was in charge of that, because the aesthetic of (a decade

that I cannot quite pinpoint) worked well for the story, and the final scene with the king and queen

in more traditional era clothing was effective in giving the impression that everything was how it

should be. A hand also goes to the prop designer, and if it was not the same person then whoever

came up with the stonks joke gets extra reward. And to the director I give a hearty well done, for

bringing this excellent show to life.

I thoroughly enjoyed this SUTCo performance, and now have high hopes for their next one, what

what.

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