The mighty in a fallen state represent one of the oldest themes in drama, reminding people in each successive epoch that underneath the trappings of power and authority is but a mortal man – or sometimes woman. Alan Bennett's depiction of The Madness of George III follows a trajectory from ‘Before’ – royal business, marital contentment, and family conflict – through the agonies of psychosis and its medical responses, to ‘After’ – (more or less) back to normal.