Helen Mirren As The Queen in New Play "The Audience"
Dave M. Benett / Getty Images
A stonkingly good review for Helen Mirren's new portrayal of the Queen from The Telegraph's theatre critic Charles Spencer on the stage in London.
The play, called, "The Audience" is based on the weekly meetings that the Queen holds with her Prime Minsters, and which have taken place throughout her long reign. Although no minutes are taken at these meetings and the discussions are totally private, details have leaked out over the years.
Spencer writes: "The play begins with John Major in meltdown about the way his Government is tearing itself apart, then moves back to Churchill then forward to Wilson and so it goes on.
"What’s remarkable is that Mirren is unobtrusively changed on stage into different costumes and wigs to suggest different periods of her reign and is almost eerily persuasive whatever age she is playing. We also see the Queen conversing with her eleven-year-old self, played by a child actress, making us acutely aware of the fact that from a very early age the young Elizabeth knew what her demanding destiny was to be.
"Stephen Daldry directs a pitch-perfect production, with a truly palatial design by Bob Crowley. And yes, there are real Corgis on stage, too."
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The play runs till June 15, and yes, I have just booked my tickets.
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