King Charles III (NHB Modern Plays) - Softcover

Flat out brilliant... dazzlingly presumptuous... takes all manner of audacious license, poetic and otherwise... an intellectually and emotionally gripping study of the strangely enduring anachronism that is the British monarchy and of the contemporary, star-struck world that can still find room for its royals... This splendid, high-reaching and utterly unexpected play. --The New York Times on the Broadway premiere.

It looks like a nifty little joke - a mock-Shakespearean history play, written almost entirely in blank verse, looking ahead to the heir apparent's ascension but it turns out to be much, much more. It turns out to be a takedown of the entire British establishment: monarchy, parliament, aristocracy, armed forces, media. In fact, it turns out to be the best British play since Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem. -- Matt Trueman

The most spectacular, gripping and wickedly entertaining piece of lèse-majesté that British theatre has ever seen... Blessed with wit, clarity and moments of deeper feeling. Outstanding and provocative... There is barely a moment when the fizz goes out of the writing and the narrative keeps springing surprises.... Tremendous. --Telegraph

Bold, brilliant and unstoppably entertaining... all the intrigue and forward momentum of a real history play. The grandeur too... King Charles III makes us care, makes us laugh, and no doubt will make us argue too. Theatre doesn't get much better than this. --The Times

A meaty, hilarious, dizzyingly audacious state of the nation political thriller... Elevates the tawdriness of the Royal soap opera into something sublime and serious... A thrilling working through of ideas about modern Britain. --Time Out

Pitch-perfect... Bracingly provocative and outrageously entertaining. --Financial Times

Brilliantly ambitious... deliciously smart... [the] script is a witty amalgam of Shakespearean rhythms and sharp modern colloquialisms threaded with light allusions to some of the Bard's greatest hits... Bartlett has found the perfect form for grappling with some of the doubts clouding our immediate national horizon... it's a compelling start to a fresh national conversation about monarchy, democracy and that most elusive and problematic of qualities - Britishness. --Exeunt Magazine

Mike Bartlett exploded onto the scene in 2007 with the premiere of "My Child" at the Royal Court. Since then he has gone on to become one of his generation s most inventive and successful dramatists with plays such as "Artefacts" (2008), "Cock" (2009), "Earthquakes in London" (2010) and "13" (2011). 2012 saw the London premieres of "Love, Love, Love, Medea" and "Chariots of Fire," which transferred from the Hampstead Theatre to the West End. His play "Bull" opened at the Sheffield Crucible in 2013 and transferred to New York as part of last years Brits off Broadway season. Another new play, "An Intervention," also opens in April 2014. Mike joined NHB s list of leading playwrights from Methuen last year. He lives in East London. "