The Madness of George III - Softcover

Bennett, Alan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0571167497 ISBN 13: 9780571167494

Publisher: Faber & Faber, 1992

Synopsis

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.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

"What Bennett has done in 'Madness' is to powerfully re-imagine the atmosphere of George's royal court, giving the dialogue a modern twist while keeping it from sounding anachronistic. The pleasure he takes in the spoken word, his ability to etch characters in both acid and compassion, to write such lines of dialogue as 'the state of the monarchy and the state of lunacy share a frontier' set this film thankfully apart."

-- Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

About the Author:

Alan Bennett has been one of our leading dramatists since the success of Beyond the Fringe in the 1960s. His television series Talking Heads has become a modern-day classic, as have many of his works for the stage including Forty Years On, The Lady in the Van, A Question of Attribution, The Madness of George III (together with the Oscar-nominated screenplay The Madness of King George), and an adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. At the National Theatre, London, The History Boys won numerous awards including Evening Standard and Critics' Circle awards for Best Play, an Olivier for Best New Play and the South Bank Award. On Broadway, The History Boys won five New York Drama Desk Awards, four Outer Critics' Circle Awards, a New York Drama Critics' Award, a New York Drama League Award and six Tonys. The Habit of Art opened at the National in 2009; in 2012, People, as well as the two short plays Hymn and Cocktail Sticks, was also staged there. His collection of prose Writing Home was a number one bestseller. Untold Stories won the PEN/Ackerley Prize for autobiography, 2006. Recent works of fiction are The Uncommon Reader and Smut: Two Unseemly Stories. The film The Lady in the Van will be released in November 2015.

About this edition

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0571167497
• ISBN 13: 9780571167494
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 96