2012 – THE KING’S SPEECH

The setting of “The King’s speech” is a surreal London, between the Twenties and the Thirties. The comedy is centred on Albert, the King George V’s second son, who suffers from stammer.
After the dead of his father, the shy and insecure duke of York was not supposed to come to the throne. The first son was indeed Edward: he became king but, after a year, he abdicated because of his love for Wallis Simpson. So Bertie, that is, Albert Frederick Arthur George Windsor, got the crown and became king, with the name of George VI.

An atypical man, so loved by the people, who really loved her wife, the volitive Elisabeth Bowes-Lyon. His burden was made of the pressures in his childhood, and a need for love – his royal parents were quite cold. His insecurity used to show off through a disabling stammer, impossible to manage during the many and embarrassing public speeches he had to perform. Moreover, George VI had to represent the British people in a difficult moment – on the eve of Second World War.

So how could he be the voice, or the guide, of the people? His wife took him to Lionel Logue, an Australian non-conformist speech therapist, a failed actor able to explore and medicate souls. He taught the Duke of York to overcome the nightmare of public speech. The Logue’s cure, based on theatrical laboratory as well as psychoanalysis, allowed the prospective king to come to the throne.

THE PROJECT

The King’s speech moves from historical facts to personal dramas, never quitting History – it is not a backcloth or a background, but a necessary presence which, in every moment of the comedy, joins the characters.
The movie, recently released, won many Academy Awards.

Born as a theatre work, The King’s speech uses a psychical-physical issue (the stammer) to represent the relationship between the colonist country and the Empire for which men are sacrificed. It shows that also the hidden anecdotes can become epic, if they are told with skill and rhythm. The merit is of David Seidler (Francis Ford Coppola’s Tucker – The man and his dream), who suffered from stammer.

PHOTOS

CAST&CREW

Cast: Luca Barbareschi, Filippo Dini, Astrid Meloni, Chiara Claudi, Roberto Mantovani, Mauro Santopietro, Ruggero Cara, Giancarlo Previati
Production: Casanova Multimedia
Produced by: Luca Barbareschi
Director: Luca Barbareschi
Executive producer: Daniela Piccolo
Production manager: Giancarlo Mastroianni
Cinematography: Iuraj Saleri
Music: Marco Zurzolo
Production design: Massimiliano Nocente
Costume design: Andrea Viotti