Arriving at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon on Monday to see the first stage show based on George R. R. Martin's 'Game of Thrones' novels felt like proper event theatre. Firstly, we all had to have 'Game of Thrones' branded stickers placed over the cameras of our smartphones to emphasise the strict no filming or photography rule. Secondly, the audience weren't allowed into the auditorium until a few minutes before the start of the play. And thirdly, the inside of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre has been completely transformed for this production, with much of the seating moved from its normal position, to allow the usual thrust stage to be narrowed and extended into a cruciform platform stretching the full length and width of the auditorium. With additional seating placed on three levels on what is usually one end of the stage, the theatre has become a spectacular immersive space for a performance in the round. Unfortunately, this meant that the seats we had chosen, which were marked as having a restricted view, were not the RST's usual 'restricted view', requiring you to peer slightly around a pillar, but were completely restricted by a newly inserted wall that prevented us seeing anything happening at one end of the stage. There were three moments during the play where it was hard to follow important plot developments because we genuinely had no idea who was speaking. Duncan Macmillan's play, 'Game of Thrones: The Mad King', is a prequel to 'A Game of Thrones' - the book that formed the start of the HBO TV series. The play concerns the final days of the reign of Aerys II Targaryen - the Mad King of the title. The plot draws on references in several George R. R. Martin books to events in this period and features the younger versions of several characters familiar to audiences of the TV series. The play works as a standalone story but I think it would be incredibly hard to follow if you weren't familiar with the books or the TV series. I'm glad we had re-familiarised ourselves with the world of Westeros by reading a brief synopsis before seeing the play. Dominic Cook's Royal Shakespeare Company production is spectacular, boasting a cast of 36 and lasting nearly four hours. it's interesting that it uses very little modern technology. Like 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' (reviewed here in August 2025), it relies more on old-fashioned stagecraft. In particular the puppetry, by Nick Barnes, creates amazing life-size metallic horses, similar to those pioneered by 'War Horse' (reviewed here in October 2015). Chloe Lamford's set features two 'wow' moments - a brilliant realisation of a sacred heart tree in the godswood, with the trunk rising from beneath the stage to mesh with the branches being lowered from above: and the thrilling emergence from under the stage of the infamous Iron Throne. George R. R. Martin's stories have always had quite a Shakespearean feel to them and it's interesting to see the Royal Shakespeare Company taking on this modern giant of fantasy fiction. So it was funny that like some of the Shakespeare history plays, an already complicated plot became additionally confusing with the introduction, late in the play, of characters who hadn't appeared until that point but seemed necessary to link this prequel to the familiar stories that follow. The whole initial run of the play is completely sold out and there was a packed, enthusiastic audience on Monday evening. It's an entertaining and satisfying experience -not quite Shakespeare, but very enjoyable.
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