On the 8th of December 2022, I had the pleasure of watching The Madness of King George, which was produced by my school, Kings School Worcester. I was overly excited to see my friends and familiar faces in the play. The Madness of George III is a 1991 play by Alan Bennett. It is a fictionalized biographical study of the latter half of the reign of George III of the United Kingdom, his battle with mental illness, and the inability of his court to handle his condition. The genre of the play was a combination of biography, comedy, and history. The play was highly informative for the audience, which meant they could leave the theatre with valuable historical knowledge. I really liked the aesthetic of the play as the costumes and the set design both had time era accuracy. My favourite part of the set design was the bed and the chaise lounge because they had wheels which meant that they both could be taken on and off stage easily which made transitions between scenes smoother. Before watching the play, I had multiple expectations of the play which I hoped would be fulfilled. One important expectation was the socialistic aspect of the play, I hoped it would still be relevant in my school's adaptation. The play's writer Alan Bennet is a well-known socialist. His true meaning for his play is to bring awareness of King George the third's illness and to send a political message. His political message was to show the audience that just because King George the third was a king does not mean that he was immune to normal civilian problems. He wanted to show that the king was just like everyone else. Allan Bennet's work led to achieving two honours a CBE in 1988 and a Knighthood in 1996.However Allan Bennet declined both honours. This was because he stated, "I felt that, in my case, it just wouldn't suit me, that's all. It would be like wearing a suit every day of your life. "Despite of that Bennet claimed to be a monarchist "I often think of myself as the last person who is a monarchist, really, simply because I can't imagine if we had anything in its place it would be anything but worse. "I was overjoyed when I saw that the play that I watched still had socialistic aspects. Personally, this serious theme makes the play have its comedic feature. What I have learnt about this play is the simplistic ideas become the most effective for the audience. As an audience member I could not stop laughing at certain scenes in the play. I loved watching my friends in the play, and my favourite character was the prince of Wales, played by Henry Halford. This is because he gave the lines a life and made the character realistic and relatable, which is what I hope more actors will do. In conclusion the play was a terrific way to inform the audience about social and political issues. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the play and recommend this play to others.
Madness Of George the Third
I went to see my schools production of The Madness of King George The Third on the 8 December.
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