If the third season of House of the Dragon simply isn’t doing it for you, or your fourth rewatch of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms isn’t hitting the spot, or if you just crave something closer to the original timeline of Game of Thrones (the books or the television series), then there’s good news. The delays that kept The Mad King from taking to the stage, instead leaving it with five canceled previews, are finally over and done with, and the show has debuted at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Game of Thrones: The Mad King has been a work in progress for 30 years. But now, three decades after the initial debut of George R.R. Martin’s novel A Game of Thrones, which introduced readers to his wildly expansive A Song of Ice and Fire universe, the play is finally seeing the light of day, brought to life by the Royal Shakespeare Company and premiering to a sold-out crowd. It’s also worth noting that this prequel, set around the events directly before the war known as Robert’s Rebellion, is the first stage production inspired by Martin’s best-known works.
NEW official photo of Michael Shaeffer as King Aerys II in “Game of Thrones: The Mad King”! pic.twitter.com/15fmWOa1ou
Like most things in the universe that Martin created, Robert’s Rebellion and the events that led to it are relatively bleak. But more than that, they’re fascinating, run through with intrigue, murder, romance, mystery, and a well of miscommunication so deep that there’s no hope of ever getting to the bottom of it. And it seems that The Mad King has succeeded in giving those moments the attention that they deserve, masterfully pulling them off with incredible performances by its cast, including names like Tanisha Spring, Elizabeth Ayodele, Mariah Gale, Callum Woodhouse, and Michael Shaeffer.
And it’s been no small effort to bring this show to audiences. After five delays due to the sheer size and scope of the production (it has a four-hour run time and a cast that’s three dozen members strong), it finally made its way to the unique stage—a cross-shaped stage with the audience surrounding it. Speaking about said cancellations, a spokesperson for the RSC said, “the actors, creative and technical teams [were taking] the additional time necessary to progress and refine the work in real time, owing to the ambitious and epic nature of the production and, as a knock-on effect of unforeseen delays to the fit-up process.”
Reviews of the play have also started rolling in, with audiences raving not only about the powerhouse performances, incredible stage design, and beautiful costuming, but also about how well the story seems to mesh with Martin’s feelings and views on the world that he created. One viewer said, “In general, I noticed they used a lot of dialogue from the books, to great effect. A really well-written play, in my opinion. The language was suitably Shakespearean.”
