Chicago Shakespeare Theater: King Charles III

“A must-see in a time when anything can happen...it deserves to be a big holiday hit. Director Gary Griffin's superbly staged production is deeper and better than the Broadway production. This is a more honest, more truthful, Chicago-style take on a fine play that, given its style, was begging to be seen in a thrust stage like we have on Navy Pier. Chicagoans digested a drama about stability, crisis, checks and balances and, well, drastic, revolutionary, precedent-shattering change. A Trumpian level of change was on people's minds, you might say, and you might say that regardless of whom you supported. King Charles III feels very much like essential viewing. Playwright Mike Bartlett, who has some satirical bones, also is very interested in William, Harry and Kate, the young generation of royals who carry some of the insouciant legacy of the late Princess Diana and who understands that, these days one also has to be King and Queen of the Column Inches.” Read full review

“Absolutely fabulous. The play serves as a fascinating complement to the current political scene. Watching it, you might swear that while it had its premiere in London in the fall of 2014 (before the Brexit upheaval, and before Donald Trump's entry into the presidential race), it could easily have been written yesterday. A blistering, wildly imaginative, wholly entertaining look at the tension between elected government officials and the monarchy, the play also is as deeply personal as it is ideological. Best of all, it probes the complex psychological makeup of the man we all know as Prince Charles—suggesting how this man, who has been in a state of eternal waiting for his chance to wear the crown, might behave once he finally inherits it.” Read full review

“Canny, captivating…directed with wit and increasing tension by Gary Griffin...A stellar production…entirely of the moment.”

“Provocative and outstanding...offers more food for though than even the amplest holiday feast”

“Poignant and relevant...a House of Cards for Royal Watchers”

“Gripping and clever...a sense of unstoppable momentum”

“Flat-out brilliant. A work that takes all manner of audacious license, poetic and otherwise. An intellectually and emotionally gripping study of the strangely enduring anachronism that is the British monarchy and of the contemporary, star-struck world that can still find room for its royals.”

“Easily the sharpest, most sophisticated political drama I have ever seen on stage…It is a gripping evening of theater.”

“Madly engaging”

“Theatrical dynamite…A play that looks like the future and sounds like the past; the perfect form to portray the royal family.”

“Bracingly provocative and outrageously entertaining”

“Moving, relevant, controversial and superb”

“Most spectacular, gripping and wickedly entertaining piece of lèse-majesté that British theatre has ever seen”

“Serious fun...A brilliant piece of drama that asks an audience to consider together the nature of power, where it lies and how it is used in contemporary Britain.”