The Madness of George III - Softcover

Bennett, Alan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 057117616X ISBN 13: 9780571176168

Publisher: Faber & Faber, 1995

Synopsis

When George III's behaviour begins to seem odd, even for Royalty, the collapse of government is imminent. The King is subjected to the horrors of eighteenth-century medicine, the Ministers scrabble to remain in office and the Prince of Wales prepares to take power.An exploration of the nature of kingship, the screenplay for The Madness of King George is based on the successful stage play, The Madness of George III.Alan Bennett's entertaining introduction to the screenplay includes his production diary, notes comparing his stage and screen versions, and the political background to the Court of George III. Also included are a selection of stills from the film.

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 (together with the screenplay), 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 (also a screenplay) 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. Alan Bennett's collection of prose, Keeping On Keeping On, publishes in October 2016. Of his two previous collections, Writing Home was a number one bestseller and Untold Stories won the PEN/Ackerley Prize for autobiography, 2006. Bennett's Six Poets, Hardy to Larkin, An Anthology, was published in 2014. Fiction includes The Uncommon Reader and Smut: Two Unseemly Stories., ALAN BENNETT has been a leading dramatist since Beyond the Fringe in the 1960s. His works for stage and screen include Talking Heads, Forty Years On, The Lady in the Van, A Question of Attribution, The Madness of George III, an adaptation of The Wind in the Willows, The History Boys, The Habit of Art, People, Hymn and Cocktail Sticks. His previous collections of prose are Writing Home and Untold Stories (PEN/Ackerley Prize, 2006). Six Poets contains Bennett's selection of English verse, accompanied by his commentary. Recent fiction includes The Uncommon Reader and Smut: Two Unseemly Stories.

About this edition

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 057117616X
• ISBN 13: 9780571176168
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160