Directed by Adrian Noble (former artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company) and designed by Anthony Ward, the cast includes Charles Edwards as King George VI, Jonathan Hyde as Lionel Logue, Emma Fielding as Queen Elizabeth, Ian McNeice as Winston Churchill, Michael Feast as Cosmo Lang and Joss Ackland as King George V. The company also features Charlotte Randle as Myrtle Logue, David Killick as Stanley Baldwin, and Daniel Betts as King Edward VIII.
David Seidler's story about how King George VI conquered his debilitating stammer with the help of maverick speech therapist Lionel Logue was one of 2010's most successful films, winning countless awards, including four Academy Awards and seven BAFTAs and grossing over $400 million worldwide at the box office.
According to press materials, Siedler started researching the story in the 1970s. After finding Dr. Valentine Logue, the surviving son of Lionel Logue and now a retired brain surgeon, he wrote to him in 1981. In turn, Logue was keen to talk with Seidler and even share the notebooks his father kept while treating the King, but on the condition that he received "written permission from the Queen Mother" first. Seidler received a reply from her private secretary when he did so, asking him not to pursue the project during her lifetime. Consequently, Seidler abandoned the project in 1982. The Queen Mother died in 2002, but Seidler didn't start the work until 2005, when he suffered from cancer, and returned to the story during a bout of creative work it inspired.
Edwards, who plays George VI, played the leading role of Richard Hannay in the original West End production of The 39 Steps and later on Broadway. Other recent credits include Twelfth Night for Peter Hall at the National, and Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare's Globe.
Hyde, who plays Logue, is an Australian-born actor who has long been based in the UK, working extensively in theatre, film and TV. Recent theatre credits include Captain Hook in Peter Pan (Kensington Gardens, 02, San Francisco), Diaghilev in Rattigan's Nijkinsky (Chichester Festival Theatre), Jumpers (National Theatre) and Kent in King Lear (RSC, opposite Ian McKellen, in a production that toured internationally). Playful Productions and Michael Alden, Robert G. Bartner and Norman Tulchin have brought the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford production to the West End.
To book tickets, which are on sale through July 21, contact the box office on 0844 482 5120, or visit www.KingsSpeechThePlay.com.
