King Charles III NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (382)
See it if you're interested in a muscular, playful, and light-on-its-feet genre-parody with delightfully Shakespearean turns and memorable characters
Don't see it if you're looking for something with Shakespeare's musicality more than his structure
See it if you want to see a brilliantly done play. Great directing and acting. Good story of an alternative storyline for the current royal family.
Don't see it if you are looking for a more light-hearted night of entertainment.
See it if You love great, original, pointed writing in the spirit of Shakespeare.
Don't see it if You don't like history plays or don't care at all about the British monarchy.
See it if incisive dissection of the monarchial institution. intellectually and emotionally stimulating story. great ensemble.
Don't see it if this is a beautiful play at both thematic and formal levels.
See it if you're at all a fan of British culture, and want a fantastic, if a bit non-realistic, view of what may happen if Charles becomes king.
Don't see it if you have no knowledge of the royal family.
See it if You love Shakespeare, British royals
Don't see it if You dislike the above
See it if you want incredible actors, intelligent dialogue, & clever plotting.
Don't see it if politics bore you, you aren't interested in the monarchy, or are looking for a hard laugh.
See it if You enjoy a modern take on a classic play style, are enthralled with the royal family, and like great acting and creative staging.
Don't see it if You don't like iambic pentameter, don't like the image of the royal family being skewed, and need a more concrete ending.
Critic Reviews (76)
“'King Charles III' is charged, exciting theater, and its star is every inch a king…It’s a bracingly suspenseful for a story that hinges on a parliamentary bill…Were Pigott-Smith not so effective in conveying Charles’s convictions, this narrative would crumble like a day-old scone. As matters are, though, Charles’s heavy-handed actions feel wholly imaginable…’King Charles III’ is a scandalous good time that leaves you questioning the relevancy of the monarchy."
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"While Goold does good in helming this new play/ The end drags on, though ain't that just Will's way?/It's smart and sad and fun barely legal:/A history play whose future is regal."
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"It crackles with intrigue and ideas...A splendid Tim Pigott-Smith reprises his role as King Charles III…Rupert Goold keeps things so gripping that at one recent preview, audience members wouldn’t even cough during the final scenes…This play marks Bartlett’s Broadway debut and it’s a thunderously good one. 'King Charles III' is ingenuous, intelligent and intriguing. Forget the king: Long live the playwright!"
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"Connecting on multiple levels, watching 'King Charles III' is akin to taking a political science master’s class. Filled with imagery and symbolism, the story is told in a perfect Shakespearian setting from the first moment of the play to the last...Rupert Goold’s direction is very strong throughout, taking the principal characters, many of whom are public figures as well as frequent objects of parody or caricature, and making them, if not always fully formed, completely interesting."
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"In Bartlett’s smartly written and exquisitely performed drama, royal authority is challenged, familial drama complicates matters, and the power of language and what we are freely allowed to express are deftly explored. Impeccable pacing, steady direction, and the magic of superb acting create an evening of spectacle-free theatricality that is as impressive as it is entertaining. Let it be decreed, only a silly fool would dare miss an audience with 'King Charles III.'"
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"A future history play. Sounds implausible, but playwright has crafted exactly that. 'King Charles III' is epic and provocative, just like the classic Shakespearean history plays, , and, like a history play, is written as a look back on an exceptional moment in history. Unlike most history plays, though, nothing depicted in the play has actually happened...yet."
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"Rupert Goold directs everything at a gripping pace, which is no easy task with subject matter this epic and thorny. One wonders if the show could have been polished, with the aid of an American co-director, to trim the unnecessary subplots. To audiences in Britain or any Commonwealth nation, 'King Charles III' is heady, provocative stuff. In America, however, the complicated political narrative and convoluted back story limit its appeal. However, 'King Charles III' is still a masterpiece. Love live the king."
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"This play is both original and classic in a way that blows my mind...This play is written in iambic pentameter, and never has Shakespeare felt so relevant...You might imagine that the use of iambic pentameter would start off clever and then lose its charm, but the opposite happens — this speech pattern adds weight to the characters’ lines which feels increasingly fitting as the intensity rises."
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