Stage interpretation of Oscar-winning film

TOURING the country in the shadow of a general election feels like a natural fit for director Roxana Silbert’s stage take on the multi-Oscar-winning movie The King’s Speech.

“It’s a play about a man who wanted to be a good king for his nation,” she says.

“He had a real sense of civic duty and social responsibility.”

The play was penned by original screenwriter David Seidler following the success of the 2011 movie starring Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush. It originally premiered in 2012 – with Seidler revealing to The Guide ahead of a performance at Theatre Royal Brighton that the script had begun life as a stage play as he struggled to contain the story.

This touring revival is being produced by Chichester Festival Theatre and the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, with Australian former soap and pop star Jason Donovan taking on the role of unconventional speech therapist Lionel Logue, and Raymond Coulthard as Bertie, the future King George VI, battling to defeat a severe stutter.

“I saw the film when it first came out and absolutely loved it,” says Silbert. “You have to think very carefully about whether you can match that theatrically.

“I’ve had a lot of conversations with David [Seidler] – his research is impeccable. It was one of the great things which made me feel very confident in the play – he has been very respectful and rigorous in his research.”

Another attractive element was the chance to collaborate with designer Tom Piper, whose First World War poppy installation at the Tower Of London hit the headlines last year.

“Nobody expected that project to be as high profile as it was,” says Silbert, adding the success has been beneficial for the play.

“He met royalty and was invited to Buckingham Palace at the same time we were designing this show – it meant we could be very accurate.”

Silbert describes the play as being even more epic than the film.

“The play gives more space to the other characters,” she says. “We see much more of Myrtle [Logue’s wife] and Elizabeth [George’s queen and the future Queen Mother]. There is a lot more social and political context with Baldwin, Churchill and Archbishop Cosmo Lang.

“At its heart is this incredible man trying to overcome his stutter at a critical time – the beginning of the Second World War. Bertie knows lots of young men are going to die, and he wants to be able to lead the country through what is going to be a very difficult time. I find that really moving. There’s a real desire to be a proper king and a proper leader.

“His father King George and Mary feel like they come from another century – Bertie feels like he could be part of our world. The values and expectations his father held were very Victorian – the sense you could question the Royal Family seemed impossible.

“With the arrival of television and radio Archbishop Cosmo admits they are all going to have to learn about this. It is very different from when people would only see the King or Archbishop as dressed up figures in the distance. Technology is changing the whole world.”

Silbert has consciously kept the whole production rooted to the stage, electing not to use period footage alongside the live performance as suggested in Seidler’s script.

“The beauty of the play is that the characters are very full and engaging,” says Silbert. “I want people to spend as much time with the characters as they can – I don’t want the actors to simply mimic, I want them to find the spirit of Churchill or Baldwin, which is hard if the audience then sees the real person on screen.”

A big part of her preparation for a play rooted in history is advance research – especially when it comes to the roles of the future king and queen.

“With Logue it’s easier as we have fewer reference points for him,” she says. “Raymond has to know the history really well, as Bertie is aware of it. Bertie and Elizabeth take their duties very seriously - it impacts on how they move, how they speak and how they approach people. The detail of that is hugely influenced by the research.

“We’ve done a lot of research into Bertie’s actual stutter – people stutter in different ways. Raymond has been working very closely with a voice coach on the various forms of speech therapy. I’m working with a man who comes directly from Logue’s practice of working, to help Jason achieve what Logue would have done and get it right.

“It’s about finding the balance between how authentic you are and keeping the story moving forward.

“The heart of the play is about two people that shouldn’t really have come into contact with each other, but find a way of becoming close friends.”

Starts 7.30pm, 2.30pm matinees on Sat and Thurs Feb 12, tickets from £14. Call 01243 781312.