King Charles III NYC Reviews and Tickets
Member Reviews (382)
See it if You want a contemporary Shakespearean style Royal Family drama
Don't see it if It's already closed
See it if you enjoy Shakespeare and know a bit about the current royals. This totally exceeded our expectations!
Don't see it if you're not a fan of plays or dramas. This show is dead serious & asks deep questions about royals in the modern age, politics and the media.
See it if you know a little bit about the English royal family and enjoy political drama, or family drama, you have ever questioned the way things are
Don't see it if You have no idea who Princess Diana was etc. you want theater to be easy
See it if You love new theatre with a classic bent
Don't see it if You don't like plays
See it if you love Shakespearean storytelling, poetic and relevant dramas.
Don't see it if you don't enjoy political family dramas, you don't enjoy Shakespeare and prefer easier to understand less complex stories.
See it if the British monarchy interests you or if you want to see a masterful show. The acting and writing are superb.
Don't see it if you want singing.
See it if If you want a look into the Royal Family.Even if it is only speculation
Don't see it if I can find no reason not to see it
See it if You are an anglophile and like to think. If you are up for a night of great acting, this is great. Try to sit towards the front!
Don't see it if You don't care about the royal family.
Critic Reviews (76)
"Mike Bartlett's flat-out brilliant portrait of a monarchy in crisis blazed open Sunday. Any echoes you may infer regarding a certain Danish prince are entirely appropriate to this dazzlingly presumptuous drama...Directed with fiery wit and rushing momentum by Rupert Goold...What could have been only a cleverly executed stunt is instead an intellectually and emotionally gripping study of the strangely enduring anachronism that is the British monarchy."
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"It’s political soap opera with soaring rhetoric. Still, Bartlett sets the bar so high, there’s room to quibble that some characters are underwritten...Bartlett’s otherwise bravura text also might have stalled if Rupert Goold’s staging weren’t so passionately acted and gorgeously designed...Galvanizing and astonishing, 'King Charles III' doesn’t just send you back to Shakespeare’s histories; it makes you want to write one."
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"Mike Bartlett’s 'King Charles III' is breathtakingly audacious and a lot of nasty fun…Tim Pigott-Smith looks relatively little like Charles; he is nevertheless masterfully convincing in the role…In the end, 'King Charles III' justifies its chutzpah even as it flies off the rails in the chaotic plotting of Act Two. You are engaged by its intrigue and moved, almost against your will, by its characters, then somewhat trampled by the onrush of events required to produce its powerful final tableau."
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"Rupert Goold's expertly crafted production hums …Bartlett lays careful groundwork for a surprisingly gripping and original political thriller...The majestically human central performance without which the conceit would crumble is Pigott-Smith's as Charles, wisely sidestepping impersonation for more nuanced character study…That makes him a figure of enormous pathos and lends Shakespearean dimensions to the play's chilling finale."
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"Watching 'King Charles III' is like looking at the topographical landscape of a familiar world, one which we faintly recognize despite not having yet seen. It is as fresh, as thrilling, and as awesome as an undiscovered country."
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"This is no playful pastiche. From the moment the play opens it’s clear that grave issues are involved…The suspense is killing. The play is dead serious. The direction is pitiless. And the supporting cast is superb. But Pigott-Smith is phenomenal, not only capturing the guarded manner and haunted look of the Prince of Wales, but portraying a sense of human goodness and character nobility that can either elevate a monarch or damn him to oblivion."
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"Not only does Bartlett (and his skillful director Rupert Goold) imagine a tale of serious shenanigans within Buckingham Palace; he does so with an ear finely tuned to a theme of the moment…Pigott-Smith’s face betrays every flicker of emotion, from elation to determination and shocking defeat..The actor will stay in your mind long after his crumpled, prone body has been consumed by the mob not outside, but within his rarefied circle."
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"Bartlett's quite brilliant play offers an entrancing if apocalyptically chaotic vision of the royal follies yet to come, once Elizabeth is gone…On this side of the Atlantic, the play, directed by Rupert Goold, gains certain interesting echoes.”
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