Springwood Review – A timely story of the British Monarch’s mission to the United States | stage

TThe 2012 film “Hyde Park on the Hudson” — which depicts a 1939 visit by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth to the summer home of President Franklin Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor — was a modest success, and was viewed by Republicans (more happily than Democrats) as an oblique look at the Clintons: the president hiding a complicated private life while his wife was more intelligent and independent than some people would like.

The film’s screenwriter Richard Nelson tackles the material for the third time (he also made a 2009 BBC radio drama) in this related but rebooted play, providing a brilliant example of how context can change content. Inspired by the 250th anniversary of America’s independence this week, the play, in which the king is crowned with a State Department mission to secure American support for the impending European war, also has echoes of the shake-up of NATO under President Trump, whom King Charles recently met on a state visit.

In this timely meditation on a diplomatic relationship that has often felt more private than it actually is, Nelson’s performances and direction crystallize the difference — with two heads of state on stage — between raw political power and symbolic significance. The royal couple’s body language exudes discomfort at being in a pleading position with a civilian.

Because the 32nd president routinely ranks among the top leaders in opinion polls, there is a temptation for actors to play him as a running commentary on the 45th and 47th occupants of the White House. Robert Lindsay combats this in one of his best performances. Physically weakened by polio, Franklin Roosevelt radiated geopolitical power and a sharp mind behind a calm voice. But conspiring with the media to hide his disability from voters — and having an affair with a distant cousin, Daisy Suckley (Rachel Pickup) — he’s also a fake politician in some ways.

With Andrew Havell’s king suffering from what has yet to be called imposter syndrome—he had a stutter and jumped into the palace because of the condescension of a brother whom some of his subjects still favored—the two men realize that “people see what they want to see,” a key phrase in the play that Nelson certainly intends to apply to contemporary populists.

Portrayals of the British royal family seem inevitably influenced by Netflix’s The Crown, which has encouraged writers and actors to take greater historical liberties. Rebecca Knight’s dutiful, charming Elizabeth feels in tune with Claire Foy’s portrayal of the character’s daughter of the same name in The Crown. Although she deserves more scenes, Gemma Redgrave’s Eleanor, clearly suppressing her true self, shows that the job of first lady is worse than that of vice president.

Subtle dual viewpoints are constantly present. “My brother and I don’t talk to each other,” says the king. The estranged royal siblings of an American divorcee and a pedophile financier exist at the same time.