LOS ANGELES – Tim Pigott-Smith has made one doozy of a stage exit. Before passing away suddenly last month at age 70, the actor recorded his Tony-nominated performance in "King Charles III," a play that imagines Prince Charles' ascension to the British throne.
Premiering Sunday on PBS, it opens with Charles attending Queen Elizabeth's funeral, heartbroken yet clearly pumped to wear the crown at last. His enthusiasm is short-lived. One of the first order of duties is to sign off on a bill that would limit the rights of the British press. Charles, while no fan of the tabloids, refuses to give his consent, infuriating the prime minister and Prince William, who has his own urge to rule. What starts off as a political game of chicken quickly disintegrates into a power struggle that threatens the future of the monarchy and family bonds.
Now Pigott-Smith's achievement can be shared with millions of viewers not fortunate enough to see it on London's West End or Broadway.
"He somehow made the audience care passionately about a man who was in some ways acting as a benevolent dictator," wrote playwright Mike Bartlett in the London Telegraph days after his leading man's death. "In other hands the part and play could have been just an experiment, or a crude satire, but Tim made it complex, layered and rich."
William Shakespeare didn't hang around long enough to speculate this scenario himself, but the play, which debuted in London in 2014, owes plenty to the Bard, with characters breaking the fourth wall, the appearance of ghosts (in this case, a chilling Princess Diana) and the use of iambic pentameter.
Previously best known for portraying villainous Ronald Merrick in "The Jewel in the Crown," Pigott-Smith acknowledged the Bard's influence during one of his final press appearances earlier this year, but insisted the film could be appreciated in its own right. True enough. The production is as juicy and accessible as an episode of "Empire," but with the rhythm coming from the dialogue rather than the soundtrack.
"As the family dissolves and they row with each other, it gets very, very 'King Lear'-like," he said. "The audience picks up on that if they know 'Lear,' but the good thing about the play is that it doesn't matter, as we found on Broadway, where audiences were less familiar with Shakespeare. They enjoyed it just as much."
Also unimportant is the fact that Pigott-Smith doesn't look much like Charles — and didn't make much of an effort to do an impersonation, although he did find it helpful to steal a couple tics — like the way the Prince of Wales holds his hands outside his pockets while never slipping them in.
"We discovered that if you did too much of that, you didn't give the audience room for their picture of the person," he said. "That was really more important than what you really felt personally about that person."
In other words, check your preconceptions about the royal family. Also, be prepared to be shattered when the film ends with a dedication its star, who was preparing for a new production of "Death of a Salesman" when he died.
As Willy Loman says, attention must be paid. Thanks to "King Charles III," it will be.
