THE QUEEN has died and the decades of waiting are over for the soon-to-be-crowned King Charles III. But all is not well in the House of Windsor between the day of Her Majesty’s passing and the moment when Charles kneels to be crowned.

The main plot centres on Charles’ refusal to give Royal Assent to a Parliamentary Bill, which has been passed by both the House of Commons and House of Lords, concerning privacy and the freedom of the press.

This, in the ensuing days, leads to a constitutional crisis that eventually involves Charles’ own flesh and blood themselves.

Robert Powell, who plays Charles in this production that opened at Bath’s Theatre Royal on Monday and runs through to Saturday, may not have delivered a better performance in any of his TV, film or theatrical roles during a long and glittering career. This portrayal of a King to be who has waited all his life to become monarch but finds, within hours of taking up the role, that his forthright views on many subjects are just not done when becoming the figurehead of the Commonwealth, is simply breathtaking.

That praise is justified as King Charles III has a dialogue, written by Mike Bartlett, that is a mix of both modern and Shakespeare. The play is easy to understand, but has a real Shakespearian influence and mirrors some of The Bard’s greatest tragedies.

But what makes Powell’s performance – and that of the other principle figures, particularly Ben Righton, who plays William – so incredible is that actors and actresses will have grown up with the feel, rhythm and words of Shakespearian classics like Hamlet or Macbeth.

Yet for the long, often complex, lines of a new play in this style to be spoken so seamlessly and with such passion that you cling to every word of the tense drama, is precisely how, I am sure, directors Rupert Gould and Whitney Mosery would have wished it when King Charles III was first commissioned last year.

Other outstanding performances are from Richard Glaves (Prince Harry) who is involved in a sub-plot of love for art student Jess (Lucy Phelps) which culminates in a big twist in the final scene.

Also the performance of Tim Treloar, who portrays Prime Minister Evans, who stands up to Charles and his unwillingness to sign the Bill’s Royal Assent – with leads to dire consequences – is terrific.

But Powell’s performance is colossal and, when the tense drama draws towards its’ ultimate crescendo, the emotions of unprecedented conflicts that he, Righton, Phelps, Glaves and Penelope Beaumont, who plays Charles’ wife, Camilla, portray are raw.

This week in Bath is part of a UK Tour ahead of an opening on Broadway and the packed audience at the Theatre Royal agreed as they walked out into the cold, wet night that this production is one which will wow the Americans when it hits New York.