THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
By Richard Nelson
Hampstead Theatre, Eton Ave, London NW3 3EU until July 25, 2026
The prolific American playwright Richard Nelson (whom we interviewed here) is back at the Hampstead for the fourth time in his career and this time he is also directing his own work, after Stanley Tucci, no less, had to leave the project early on.
He’s assembled an impressive cast for a stage adaptation of his well-received 2012 movie Hyde Park on the Hudson. The premise is a simple but intriguing one centering on one crucial bit of soft diplomacy which took place in June 1939 between King George VI and President Franklin D Roosevelt.
The President (Robert Lindsay) and Eleanor (Jemma Redgrave) had invited the King (Andrew Havill) and Queen Elizabeth (Rebecca Night) for a weekend at the titular country estate in upstate New York. On the surface it was to be a jolly affair where the quartet would kindle the Special Relationship and get to know each other better (hard to believe now in an age when every detail is known about public figures) and the highlight would be a picnic where the Royals would bravely set about eating their first hot dogs.
Nelson is a master at low-key domestic drama and gives this the same treatment. The contrast therefore between the quotidian aspects of the characters daily lives and the monumental backdrop of history gives the piece its edge. Tom Piper’s (almost) thrust set, too, places the audience on three sides to immerse us in the intimacy of many quiet late-night conversations between the protagonists and their various attendants, as well as FDR’s imperious, fussing, mother (Eileen Nicholas).
The British royal couple, very new to this game and not well thought of in America up til then, were almost rigid with the burden of responsibility they held, it just being over two years since they’d been catapulted unwillingly into their roles. They were sent on this mission to plead with Roosevelt to promise US support if Germany started a war – and by this time the war clouds were rolling in. Roosevelt, though personally sympathetic, warns the King that an America in the throes of isolationism wasn’t convinced the Brits were worth supporting. A lot was riding therefore on this piece of hot dog diplomacy.
The challenge for Nelson was to make the social awkwardness, small talk and domestic quirks of the two couples dramatically interesting, and while this experienced cast are experts at delivering such a naturalistic style the play has a tendency towards listlessness at times. Havill’s King is a wonderfully human portrait of painfully shy man, plagued with a stammer and suffering from impostor syndrome. Lindsay has (as ever) charisma in buckets, and here gives a wonderfully delicate portrait of FDR which captures both the vulnerability of the man and the mask of his commanding public persona. The lengths his family and staff went to in covering up his disability were astonishing, as was the response of everyone present and in the know. They all acted as if they didn’t see it and nothing was said, a perfect Emperor’s New Clothes scenario. FDR connects with the King over them both having to constantly ‘perform’ in this way. (Paralyzed in both legs, he was diagnosed with polio although it’s now thought he may have had the rare autoimmune disorder Guillain-Barré syndrome.)
Relations between the women were frostier and took longer to thaw. Night’s wonderfully buttoned-up Queen is much cannier than her husband and protective of him. She frets about the symbolism of the ‘hot dogs’ and is very attuned to every perceived slight. A vulnerable mess. She is horrified at how the ‘free spirited’ Eleanor turns a blind eye to her husband’s various dalliances including with his secretary Missy (Teresa Banham) and the family ‘governess’ Daisy (Rachel Pickup) whose presence is pivotal. Redgrave captures the feistiness but also the sadness in Eleanor who at times appears more royal than the royals (who were never expected to take the throne) with all her well-bred, New England, hauteur. On a casting note, she is however way too Nordic and statuesque for the part.
Nelson’s achievement is to remind us that these great figures are as chaotically human as the rest of us, yet what is required of them is leadership when it matters and ultimately openness which is what this quartet thankfully had. As for how the Special Relationship stands today we’d be right to worry but this is a reminder that it has withstood many raging storms and survived.
