Details

Bertie, the Duke of York, was never meant to be King. Shy, fragile, afflicted with profound stuttering, his occasional public speeches were a torment to himself and worse to those forced to listen. When his older brother David, now Edward VIII, abdicates his throne in exchange for the bed of a twice divorced American with Nazi sympathies, Bertie s wife Elizabeth turns to a Harley Street speech therapist from Australia: Lionel Logue. What transpires in the privacy of Logue s consultation room is the heart of this drama. Can Bertie, the reluctant King, be ?cured to get through his Coronation, and even more daunting, speak via the BBC to anxious millions throughout the world, rallying the troops, a nation, and an Empire to defend democracy? At the crucial moment comes the disclosure that Logue is not what he seems. Carefully researched, this is the true story of a friendship that changed history.

Cast/Performers

Raymond Coulthard (King George VI), Jason Donovan (Lionel Logue), Nicholas Blane (Winston Churchill), Jamie Hinde (David Prince of Wales / Edward VIII), Felicity Houlbrooke (Wallace Simpson), Claire Lams (Queen Elizabeth), Katy Stephens (Myrtle Logue), Martin Turner (Archbishop Cosmo Lang)

Creatives/Company

Author: David Seidler
Corporate Sponsor: Simpson Travel (Chichester)
Producer(s): Chichester Festival Theatre, Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Director: Roxana Silbert
Design: Tom Piper
Lighting: Ollie Fenwick
Music: Nick Powell