The King's Speech

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Previewed 22 March 2012 - opened 27 March 2012 - closed 12 May 2012 at the Wyndham's Theatre in London

The stage version of David Seidler's original play The King's Speech in London starring Charles Edwards, Jonathan Hyde, Emma Fielding and Joss Ackland and directed by Adrian Noble.

David Seidler's original stage play brings the audience face to face with Bertie, Duke Of York, as he is thrust onto the world stage as King George VI following his brother’s abdication. With the Nazi threat looming and civil unrest at home, royal secrets explode around Bertie as he struggles to find his voice as King.

The cast for this stage production of The King's Speech in London features Charles Edwards as 'King George VI', Jonathan Hyde as 'Lionel Logue' and Emma Fielding as 'Queen Elizabeth' with Joss Ackland as 'King George V' along with Lisa Baird, Jeremy Bennett, Daniel Betts, Michael Feast, David Morley Hale, David Killick, Adam Lilley, Ian McNeice and Charlotte Randle. The production is directed by Adrian Noble, designed by Anthony Ward, lighting by Mark Henderson, sound by Mic Pool, choreography by Nikki Woollaston and projections by Jon Driscoll.

"Fascinating to see the stage version of David Seidler's The King's Speech, which was a theatre play before it became an Oscar-winning film. In some ways it feels pared-back, distant, lacking the intimate close-ups and camera focuses on a twitched lip and a wrinkled royal nose. But to see the stammering, frustrated George VI before a live audience as he makes his closing speech to the people becomes a powerful moment and this production is well served by its cast... Director Adrian Noble employs a revolving, black-edged gauze screen and clips of old film. Logue's failings are accentuated. So is the Monarch's loneliness. Interesting, that, in a Jubilee year. I cannot say I liked this more than the film. But I liked it equally. Result." The Daily Mail

"At the heart of this stage version of Oscar-winning The King's Speech is a superb performance by Charles Edwards, a fine actor who deserves to be better known. Edwards is of course vying with Colin Firth, so good in Tom Hooper's film. But before it reached the big screen, The King's Speech was a play, and here David Seidler's writing gets a fresh chance to shine... A strong sense of time and place derives from Anthony Ward's ingenious design and Jon Driscoll's projections. Less compelling is the use of echo in the most intimate scenes, which creates an air of portentousness. I am not wholly convinced a West End staging of The King's Speech is something we urgently need, but this is a slick, appealing package. The two key roles are inhabited fully -- and at times thrillingly." The London Evening Standard

"This production of David Seidler's original play is deeper and more revealing than the 2011 Oscar-winning film version which starred a rather stony-faced Colin Firth. We are closer to the sensitivity which explores so touchingly the stammering struggle of a man not born to be king, but as King George VI became just that after his older brother forsook the throne for the American divorcee Wallis Simpson... Charles Edwards' playing of Bertie shows us the vulnerability and near-despair that makes him stammer, an inheritance of the bullying from his foul father, King George V... Jonathan Hyde is superb as Lionel Logue, coaxing the best from Bertie, instilling in him an increasing confidence that makes him unafraid to address the nation without the vocal stumbling... Adrian Noble's direction never falters in this hugely entertaining, even moving play and Anthony Ward's clever set, with its huge centre-stage frame, gives us a sense of peering through a window." The Daily Express

The King's Speech in London at the Wyndham's Theatre previewed from 22 March 2012, opened on 27 March 2012 and closes on 12 May 2012.