Belasco Theatre, New York
December 17, 2017

From Nebuchadnezzar to Nero, from King Lear to King George, dramatists across the centuries have drawn inspiration from the mental instability of monarchs. Now it’s the turn of King Philippe V of Spain in Claire van Kampen’s engaging new play, which arrives on Broadway fresh from Shakespeare’s Globe in John Dove’s visually sumptuous production. Not only does van Kampen’s gentle exploration of identity, responsibility, sanity and perception turn out to be one of the more profound historical plays of recent years, it also gives audiences a chance to bask for two-and-a-half hours in the dramatic talents of Mr van Kampen (aka actor Mark Rylance) and the vocal beauties of Iestyn Davies, one of the world’s finest countertenors.

Mark Rylance in Farinelli and the King. Photo © Joan Marcus

For the final nine years of his life, his increasingly erratic behaviour and debilitating depressions were soothed by the musical ministrations of the famous castrato Carlo Broschi, aka Farinelli. But what was it compelled the greatest star in the operatic firmament to retire from public performance at the very pinnacle of his fame? And how did...