Academy Award-winning stage and screen superstar Helen Mirren makes her return to Broadway in the rapturously received new production of drama The Audience!
The drama imagines Queen Elizabeth II (Mirren) and her weekly meetings with the 12 prime ministers who have governed the UK during her reign. From Churchill to Cameron, each Prime Minister uses these private conversations as a sounding board and a confessional.
Sometimes intimate, sometimes explosive – all have an unspoken agreement with the queen that neither party will repeat these Buckingham Palace tête-à-têtes. These private audiences chart the arc of the second Elizabethan Age, from the beginning of Elizabeth II’s reign to today.
The Audience is written by English writer Peter Morgan, who was responsible for Mirren’s previous portrayal of Her Maj in the Queen – the movie for which Mirren snagged the Best Actress Oscar.
The official description of the play is as follows: “For sixty years Elizabeth II has met each of her twelve Prime Ministers in a weekly audience at Buckingham Palace. Both parties have an unspoken agreement never to repeat what is said, not even to their spouses. The Audience imagines a series of pivotal meetings between the Downing Street incumbents and their Queen.
Politicians come and go through the revolving door of electoral politics, while she remains constant, waiting to welcome her next Prime Minister.”
The play is is directed by Stephen Daldry (of Billy Elliott fame). The cast also features Dylan Baker as John Major, Judith Ivey as Margaret Thatcher, Dakin Matthews as Winston Churchill. Elizabeth Teeter appears as young Elizabeth.
The Audience is set to begin previews on February 14 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on West 45th Street in New York. Definitely a must-see for anyone headed to the Big Apple!
