King Charles III

Mike Bartlett's 'future history play' explores the people beneath the crowns, the unwritten rules of our democracy, and the conscience of Britain's most famous family.

Queen Elizabeth II is dead. After a lifetime of waiting, her son ascends the throne. A future of power. But how to rule?

Drawing on the style and structure of a Shakespearean history play, King Charles III opened at London's Almeida Theatre, directed by its Artistic Director Rupert Goold, in April 2014, before transferring to the West End.

The play went on to win Best New Play at both the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards and the Olivier Awards. It also won the South Bank Sky Arts Theatre Award.



Mike Barlett is an Olivier Award-winning playwright whose plays have been seen at theatres including the National Theatre, Royal Court Theatre, Bush Theatre and Sheffield Theatres in the UK, and off-Broadway in New York.



'Outstanding and provocative… the most spectacular, gripping and wickedly entertaining piece of lèse-majesté that British theatre has ever seen'



'Bold, brilliant and unstoppably entertaining… an intelligent, empathetic, moving look at the power and limitations of the modern monarchy… theatre doesn't get much better than this'



'Extraordinary… a meaty, hilarious, dizzyingly audacious state of the nation political thriller'



'Royally entertaining… raises fascinating questions about the future of the monarchy'



'Scintillating and highly ambitious... a brilliant, provocative piece of drama'



'Wonderfully original... Bartlett's brilliant text pulses with Shakespearean resonances... a right royal triumph'



'Pitch-perfect… bracingly provocative and outrageously entertaining'



'Brilliantly ambitious… deliciously smart… [the] script is a witty amalgam of Shakespearean rhythms and sharp modern colloquialisms'