News, sport and entertainment from the Bournemouth Echo and Dorset Echo.

By George, he's completely mad

From the Echo, first published Thursday 25th Jan 2001.

A ROYAL treasure will be on show at Wimborne's Tivoli Theatre in February, but a more fitting venue might really be the Chamber of Horrors.

The fearsome restraining chair which was used in the 1991 Royal National Theatre production of The Madness of George III will be on loan to Wimborne Drama, who are staging Alan Bennett's play at the Tivoli from February 14.

This 'instrument of torture', in which the King is forcibly restrained by an unconventional 'mad doctor', is a gruesome piece of furniture. Sir Nigel Hawthorne, who portrayed the King on stage and screen, admits "It really upset me to see that chair, and my eyes filled with tears at every rehearsal. I know just how the King must have felt, being confronted by that appalling instrument of abuse."

However, Geoff Whipp, who will portray the monarch in Wimborne Drama's production, has no such apprehension. "We are very lucky that the National has allowed us to borrow the chair, and I feel honoured to be able to take up the seat previously occupied by Nigel Hawthorne."

Make sure you reserve your seats early for what director Richard Neal promises will be a richly entertaining evening of sumptuous costumes, glorious music by Handel and Bennett's brutally funny but touching script.

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