The King’s Speech Comes to the U.K. Stage, Starring Charles Edwards & Jonathan Hyde

The previously announced world premiere of the play The King's Speech, which served as the basis for the 2011 Oscar winner for Best Picture, will star Charles Edwards as George IV and Jonathan Hyde as speech therapist Lionel Logue. The play, directed by former Royal Shakespeare Company artistic director Adrian Noble, will premiere at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford on February 1, 2012, before beginning a U.K. tour to Nottingham, Bath, Brighton, Richmond and Newcastle. Additional casting has not been announced.

The King’s Speech, by Oscar-winning screenwriter David Seidler, was originally conceived as a play before it was adapted into a film starring Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush. Directed by Tom Hooper, the movie version of The King's Speech follows George's struggle with a speech impediment and the friendship that forms between the British royal and his unconventional speech therapist, Logue. Though rumors of possible West End and Broadway productions have been circulating, no official announcement about either has been made.

Edwards starred as Richard Hannay in the West End production of The 39 Steps and reprised his performance on Broadway. He most recently appeared in Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare’s Old Globe and Twelfth Night at the Royal National Theatre. His film and television credits include An Ideal Husband, Monarch of the Glen, Mansfield Park, Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes and The Shell Seekers. Hyde, a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, has theater credits that include Peter Pan. Rattigan’s Nijinsky, Jumpers, Antigone, King Lear and The Seagull. His film credits include The Contract, The Mummy, Titanic, Jumanji and Richie Rich. 

The King’s Speech will be designed by Anthony Ward.