About the Play:

HARD TO FIND BOOK, only a very limited number of copies are still available.

The Madness of George III was one of Royal National Theatre of Britain's top 100 plays of the 20th century.

The Madness of George III is a full-length drama by Alan Bennett. You may well have watched the musical Hamilton but do you know the British side of the story behind King George III? The Madness of George III is a brilliant exploration of duty and kingship, a comic masterpiece by Alan Bennett giving a new insight to a key period of history. Gripping drama, dangerous politics and irreverent comedy collide in a roller coaster ride where the health of the nation is at the mercy of the mental health of one man.

The Madness of George III tells the story of the third Hanoverian King of Great Britain, who despite his string of accomplishments – he founded the Royal Academy of Arts, was a passionate advocate of science, literature and music and fathered 15 children – is best remembered for his bouts of uncontrollable insanity. The year is 1786. George III is King. He has a loving wife, a nation of subjects, a loyal parliament, and the world kneels at his feet.... He may have been anointed by God, but when he becomes increasingly erratic after losing the American colonies, it's clear that he's all too human. Rumours are circulating that he has even addressed an oak tree as the King of Prussia. Parliament falters, and his son, the Prince Regent, exploits this weakness to increase his own power. Doctors are called in to cure the King's madness. All of them are eminently respectable quacks and one is in the employ of the Prince Regent, a man with a strong motive for easing the King further into madness. When the King recovers with the aid of a country doctor, a constitutional crisis is averted. Part political comedy, part touching love story, King George remains witty, moving, and ultimately triumphant. The Madness of George III is about the real men and women behind the icons we create.

The Madness of George III premiered in 1991 at the National Theatre in London and went on to become an international theatrical sensation and was adapted into an Oscar-winning film.

Cast: 3 female, 23 male (room for extras)

What people say:

"Absolutely engrossing." — New York Post

"A richly amusing evening of high office politics with plenty of contemporary resonances." — Daily Express

"What Mr. Bennett achieves with a consummate sense of theatre is in making this remote, ambiguous monarch character totally accessible to a modern audience, at once a fascinating figure of both tragedy and heroism." — The Daily Mail

About the Playwright:

Alan Bennett is now regarded as perhaps the premier English dramatist of his generation. Over the last thirty years, Bennett has written ten stage plays, three screenplays, eight television documentaries, and over thirty plays for television. His work focuses on the everyday and the mundane; on people with typically British characteristics and obsessions. He has won multiple awards for all aspects of his work including his writing and acting and has declined both a CBE and a knighthood.