Book description
George III's behaviour has often been odd, but now he is deranged,
with rumours circulating that he has even addressed an oak tree as the
King of Prussia. Doctors are brought in, the government wavers and the
Prince Regent manoeuvres himself into power. Alan Bennett's play
explores the court of a mad king, and the fearful treatments he was
forced to undergo. It is about the nature of kingship itself, showing
how by subtle degrees the ruler's delirium erodes his authority and status.
Alan Bennett first appeared on the stage in 1960 as one of the
authors and performers of the revue Beyond the Fringe. His stage plays
include Forty Years On, Getting On, Habeas Corpus, The Old Country and
The Lady in the Van, and he has written many television plays, notably A
Day Out, Sunset Across the Bay, A Woman of No Importance and the series
of monologues Talking Heads. An adaptation of his television play, An
Englishman Abroad, was paired with A Question of Attribution in the
double-bill Single Spies, first produced at the National Theatre in
1988. This was followed in 1990 by his adaptation of The Wind in the
Willows and in 1991 by The Madness of George III. His most recent play,
The History Boys, won the Evening Standard and Critics Circle awards
for Best Play, The Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play, and The
South Bank Award. Alan Bennett s latest collection of prose, Untold
Stories, was published in 2005 by Faber and Faber and Profile Books.
