# Helen Mirren in The Audience **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 11, 2013, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helen-mirren-in-the-audience/663199 "2013-07-11T03:28:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helen-mirren-in-the-audience/663199/1 "2013-07-11T03:28:25Z")
[http://www.theaudienceplay.com/home/](http://www.theaudienceplay.com/home/) > **[The Audience (2013 play)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Audience_(2013_play))** > > The Audience is a play by the British playwright and screenwriter Peter Morgan. The play centres on weekly meetings, called audiences, between Queen Elizabeth II, originally played by Helen Mirren, and her prime ministers. It premiered in the West End in 2013, at the Gielgud Theatre. A Broadway production opened in 2015, also starring Mirren. A West End revival played in London in 2015 starring Kristin Scott Thomas in the lead role. > The Audience is centred on the weekly audiences given by Quee... Just saw it in a special National Theatre live broadcast from London, shown in our local art-house movie theater. It was pretty good. If you liked _The Queen_ (same writer and star), or are a raging Anglophile and/or political junkie like me, you’d enjoy it. We see the Queen meeting with (most of) her Prime Ministers over the years, and occasionally talk to a younger version of herself about duty, decorum and a life in the spotlight. Mirren is as good as ever, and you get an interesting overview of the Queen’s life, and British political history, in the course of 2 1/2 hours. There was a brief interview with the writer during the intermission, and a look at the costumes. Questions? Ask away. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helen-mirren-in-the-audience/663199/2 "2013-07-11T15:35:46Z")
I have a friend who worked with Helen Mirren and said she was a true sweetheart in real life, and very down to earth and friendly with everyone on the set, down to the lowly caterers and crew and even the local townspeople where the film was being made. How would you compare this to the film, “The Queen”? Would the Royal Family be thrilled with the show, or find it offensive? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helen-mirren-in-the-audience/663199/3 "2013-07-11T16:38:12Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > …How would you compare this to the film, “The Queen”? > Would the Royal Family be thrilled with the show, or find it offensive? I also have read complimentary things about Mirren when she’s not in front of an audience or a camera. _The Queen_ focused on the monarch during a particularly trying but relatively brief time for her, as she dealt with the fallout from Diana’s death. The play has a much broader scope, touching on points in her life from Edward VIII’s abdication in 1936, when her father became King and she realized that her life would never be the same, up to the present day, when she meets with Prime Minister David Cameron. The play has more funny moments than the movie, but is more or less a drama. I suspect the Royal Family would be neither thrilled nor offended. The play is basically respectful to the Queen, although there are passing references to the marital difficulties of her children, some criticism of the Royal Family for being too rich, elitist or out of touch, and there are times when the Queen seems uncharacteristically blunt, soul-baring or snappish. That’s just the theater for you. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2013, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helen-mirren-in-the-audience/663199/4 "2013-07-12T21:32:50Z")
We saw this as well, and enjoyed it. The dialog is all made up, of course. I can’t see the royals being annoyed by any of this. There are far worse things said, and far harsher portrayals. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2013, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helen-mirren-in-the-audience/663199/5 "2013-07-12T22:53:46Z")
Who played the younger EIIR? This would make a fantastic Oscar bait film. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2013, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helen-mirren-in-the-audience/663199/6 "2013-07-13T01:25:07Z")
There are three different actresses who play the young Princess Elizabeth (not EIIR then): [http://www.theaudienceplay.com/team/young-elizabeth/](http://www.theaudienceplay.com/team/young-elizabeth/). I think the one we saw was the third shown. Yes, I think the play could easily be adapted into an actual movie. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2013, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helen-mirren-in-the-audience/663199/7 "2013-07-13T11:48:03Z")
A trailer on [Dailymotion](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x10cfbl_national-theatre-live-the-audience-trailer-2013-hd-helen-mirren_shortfilms?search_algo=2#.UeE9vdIWJiE) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helen-mirren-in-the-audience/663199/8 "2015-02-27T01:58:08Z")
The show’s now on Broadway, and revised with a new Tony Blair scene: [BAZ BAMIGBOYE: Now Queen Helen is putting Blair in the hot seat | Daily Mail Online](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2971187/BAZ-BAMIGBOYE-Queen-Helen-putting-Blair-hot-seat.html) ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helen-mirren-in-the-audience/663199/9 "2015-03-03T04:19:15Z")
Saw a telemovie the other night called Walking the Dogs, about the occasion many years ago when a man broke into the Palace and sat and chatted with the Queen for a while before the cavalry arrived. Emma Thompson plays the Queen. V well written and acted, as a common man and the Queen try to find common ground between them where one of them is someone who is free to live an ordinary life and the other is practically never alone, never went to school, whose life is closely regimented and who has never ever been merely one face in a crowd except once in 1945. Beautifully played by a small ensemble cast.