Springwood – Hampstead Theatre

On the verge of the WWII, King George VI (Bertie) and Queen Elizabeth visit President Franklin D. Roosevelt, to try to gain U.S. support for Britain. The occasion takes place, not at the White House, but at Roosevelt’s country home, Springwood. Written and directed by Richard Nelson, the play explores the meeting between these two men from a human angle, rather than a political one – what personal challenges were they facing, and where might they have found a connection?

Springwood opens with a simple set of dining furniture that is immediately moved off stage and replaced with a small table and a few chairs. Presumably there was a reason for this, but whatever that was is not clear, and it makes for a disconcerting and awkward beginning. Perhaps it’s to foreshadow the awkwardness of the characters. Eleanor Roosevelt and her husband have a pretence of marriage, and the first thing she does is leave him with his mistress to go to her own house a few miles away, returning in the morning to put on a united front for the royal visit. Bertie and Elizabeth are awkward as well, wondering if they’ve been invited here simply to be mocked. Nelson’s writing excels in the moments where his characters expose their vulnerabilities. Roosevelt and Bertie bond over their physical difficulties, while Eleanor and Elizabeth finally understand each other when they begin to speak freely. But the play is full of awkward moments and conversations that become repetitive and do little to move the action forward.

Robert Lindsay delivers a surprisingly weak Roosevelt. There is no sense of the imposing man who won four presidential elections. It was Roosevelt who initiated the meeting, inviting a British monarch onto U.S. soil for the first time since the Revolutionary War, recognising that the U.S. would eventually be a part of the war that was brewing in Europe. This foresight and intelligence was absent from Lindsay’s character, in part due to the script. In trying to emphasise Roosevelt’s humanity, the character loses the elements that made him an impressive statesman. Other than the occasional line about Britain and the U.S. being neighbours, Roosevelt came across as a philanderer who collected stamps and went against his wife and mother at every opportunity. Lindsay is best known for his comedic acting, and his portrayal of Roosevelt felt very much in this vein. At no point did he seem like a man that the King should be taking advice from, let alone seeing as a father figure. His strength of character is constantly hinted at but never portrayed.

In contrast, Jemma Redgrave captures the strength of Eleanor Roosevelt, mixing it convincingly with embarrassment at her husband’s infidelities and frustration at having to constantly appease her mother-in-law. Andrew Havill as Bertie gives one of the best performances of the play as a character who feels out of his depth and believes his subjects deserve better than a stuttering man who was never meant to be King. He conveys a very youthful presence, however, he looks much older than the character he plays, who was 43 at the time he met Roosevelt. Some effort to make him look younger, such as dying his hair, would have helped him seem closer to his character’s age, and closer to the age of his wife, played by Rebecca Night. The pairing of Night and Havill works well, and they have some of the best scenes of the play, including a disastrous phone call to their young daughters in London and an obsession with the significance of having to eat a hot dog. 

A selection of minor characters are a mixture of ones who add to the story, eg, the King’s aide (John Mackay), and ones who barely serve any purpose. Roosevelt’s secretary seems to be there entirely for a single reference to her previously being his mistress, and his mother is a character we’re told more about than shown, which left me wondering why she was added at all.

Springwood is a play with an interesting premise that doesn’t quite work. From acting to directing to casting, it’s full of odd choices that mean things never really click into place. The ending is a prime example of this – after spending the entire play building towards the all-important public picnic between the main characters, the actual event happens as an off-stage repetition of a conversation the characters just had on stage, resulting in a lack of impact that left the audience wondering if something else was going to happen. This is the third iteration of Nelson’s story, which began life as the radio play Hyde Park on Hudson, told from the point of view of one of Roosevelt’s mistresses, before being turned into a film of the same name. Nelson has now turned it into a play told from a different point of view, but it still feels like it needs some re-working to make it a really good piece of theatre. 

Springwood is currently premiering at Hampstead Theatre and runs until the 25th of July.  Tickets are available here: https://www.hampsteadtheatre.com/ 

Reviewer: Charlotte Mansfield

Reviewed: 29th June 2026

North West End UK Rating: