double quotation markYou don\u2019t need to read the entrails of a raven to guess the target of the subtitle The Mad King: the various Brutuses plotting his fall conclude that the \u201cparanoid and delusional\u201d monarch will destroy their civilisation. The focus, though, is not just Trumpian. Macmillan references two wider international crises \u2013 the instability of heads of state and the weather \u2013 and a UK national concern: the endurance of a royal bloodline. The RSC\u2019s patron, King Charles III, might skip this one.<\/p>\n
Mark Lawson, the Guardian<\/a><\/p>\n double quotation markThe main auditorium has been reconfigured so that the audience presses in on all sides with the action predominantly confined to a cruciform stage with mighty gates at the far end and a coronet-style arch at its centre. The opening wordless sequence, featuring an inordinate procession of arrivals (there\u2019s a cast of 36), conjures a due aura of wonder and clanging foreboding. Most strikingly, a number of characters enter on horseback; these magnificent metallic steeds are operated, as in War Horse, by an obliging trio of handlers.<\/p>\n Dominic Cavendish, the Telegraph<\/a><\/p>\n double quotation markThe great achievement of this reimagining of George RR Martin\u2019s universe by writer Duncan Macmillan and director Dominic Cooke is that it ties up plot points from the Song of Ice and Fire franchise in ways likely to satisfy avid fans of the novels and the subsequent TV series but simultaneously creates a narrative clear and engaging enough to entrance the only partially affiliated or the complete newbie.<\/p>\n Sarah Crompton, WhatsOnStage<\/a><\/p>\n Author George RR Martin arrives at the gala evening for Game of Thrones: The Mad King at the Royal Shakespeare theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. Photograph: Jeff Spicer\/Getty Images<\/p>\n double quotation markDesigner Chloe Lamford creates a visionary space, where dragon puppets and vast stomping horses stalk in shadowy slo mo like they\u2019re embedded deep in this world\u2019s collective memory. Silk-skirted courtly dances and unwieldy but spectacular joust scenes show how these dynasties enjoy themselves, before the noble blood starts to fall.<\/p>\n Alice Saville, the Independent<\/a><\/p>\n double quotation markThis prequel to a blood-soaked dynastic saga wanders on for so long that it makes Christopher Nolan\u2019s journey into Greek mythology seem a model of understatement. There\u2019s no reason why the RSC shouldn\u2019t bring Martin\u2019s epic books to the stage in Game of Thrones: The Mad King, but if this stolid production gives hardcore GoT fans a chance to hunt for \u201cEaster eggs\u201d, it seldom comes close to matching the grim aura of the TV series.<\/p>\n Clive Davis, the Times<\/a><\/p>\n double quotation markThe first half of Cooke\u2019s superbly staged, spectacular production has the feel of a dynamic Bayeux Tapestry: a stunning pageant of medieval stop-motion animation. But after the interval, the plot takes off. Sparks fly romantically and dramatically, which is just as well because, at three hours 45 minutes, it\u2019s almost as long as Hamlet.<\/p>\n