Springwood, set in June 1939, looks at a series of tricky meetings between the American president FDR and George VI at the Roosevelts’ family retreat in upstate New York. George and Queen Elizabeth are guests at the poky old house and although they complain to each other about their sleeping quarters they hide their dismay from their hosts. The writer-director, Richard Nelson, evidently despises the main characters apart from FDR (Robert Lindsay) who comes across as a genial old buffer addicted to whisky.

The dialogue is divided into easy-to-handle segments. First, we get the history bit. FDR tells George that the US ought to join Britain in the coming war but pro-German sentiment is very strong and the majority of Americans may support Hitler. Then we get the therapy bit. George confesses that his tyrannical and heartless father turned him into a spineless quivering ninny who craves the approval of everyone he meets.

Within the context of the play, this makes sense. George (Andrew Havill) appears to be a brainless dolt who gets into a panic about eating sausages in public even though his heritage is German. He allows a minor English diplomat, Cameron, to wander around the royal bedroom wearing a bathrobe and chatting to the King and Queen as........

© The Spectator