‘The Queen is dead!’ are not words any of us is anxious to hear; they will be followed by the exclamation: ‘Long live the King!’ referring to King Charles III. That is the starting point for a play by British writer Mike Bartlett titled, with disarming directness, King Charles III. This sounds like a smart idea to satirise the monarchy but by most accounts it does not do so. Bartlett has written an Olivier Award winning drama that arises from a hypothetical constitutional crisis at the outset of Charles’ reign. The play deals with what we think we know of Charles temperament – and integrity – to speculate ‘provocatively but not viciously’.

The acclaimed production, with an all-British cast from the Almeida Theatre, is being presented by the Sydney Theatre Company from March 31 to April 30. It is not touring to any other city.

Having premiered at the Almeida in March 2014, the production enjoyed a sell-out transfer to Wyndham’s Theatre in the West End and a season on Broadway in 2015. Raising the stakes, the playwright chose to write in a Shakespearian style in mostly blank verse but, as Variety said, ‘this is no playful pastiche’; it is a serious play.

The British Royal Family is used to being depicted dramatically on stage and in film. (Helen Mirren has made a late career of it). Hoping to be ‘royally entertained’, we shall soon see if King Charles III rises to its subject matter.