The Windsors: Endgame review – a right royal disaster
Prince of Wales theatre, LondonThe sharp Channel 4 comedy becomes a lumbering stage show sending up King Charles and a band of boo-worthy buffoons
For fans of the TV series, watching The Windsors: Endgame is akin to seeing Sex and the City: The Movie. High expectation is met by crashing disappointment. In the case of this comedy, it is puzzling that satire so sparkling on the small screen should be so lumbering in a longer-length live form.
It is momentarily thrilling to see the “royals” on stage, resplendent in ermine and waxed jackets, against the backdrop of Madeleine Girling’s palatial sets. But the jokes fall short of the dark imagination and quick intelligence of the Channel 4 series, which is a cross between Dead Ringers and The Crown, with deliciously surreal plotlines and pointed political comedy.
This production, directed by Michael Fentiman, is written by the creators of the TV show, Bert Tyler-Moore and George Jeffrie; the latter died in September last year after completing the first draft. The cast is largely different to the series, though Harry Enfield still plays Prince Charles, Tom Durant-Pritchard is Harry and Matthew Cottle plays Edward. Emerging before the curtain opens, Edward tells us he is 12th in line to the throne – after Princess Eugenie but before Danny Dyer. It is all fine as a warmup act but the humour becomes more blunt-edged.
Harry and Meghan (Crystal Condie) are California yogis;. Kara Tointon, the strongest non-TV series performer, is Kate, who loves her Boden catalogue. We are urged to boo Camilla (Tracy-Ann Oberman), who really is a panto villain. There is topicality, with mentions of the Oprah interview with Harry and Meghan and of the former health secretary, but it is shoehorned in crudely. “Do you mind if I Matt Hancock your buttocks?” says Harry to Kate in an illicit clinch.
The central story is outlandish: the Queen has abdicated, Charles is king and power-mad Camilla encourages him to turn his monarchy into absolute rule. A secondary plotline sees Princesses Beatrice (Jenny Rainsford) and Eugenie (Eliza Butterworth) trying to prove their father, Prince Andrew (Tim Wallers), innocent of “nonce-gate”.
One good joke pops up at the end when Charles is about to die and Wills tells him he loves him. Emotionally repressed even in death throes, Charles responds: “I send you my very best wishes.”
Prince Edward’s infamous orchestration of a version of It’s a Knockout is mentioned at one point. In its own way, this feels comparable to that royal disaster.
At the Prince of Wales theatre, London, until 9 October.
