Mirren Reigns Again In “The Audience”
Helen Mirren won an Oscar six years ago for playing Her Majesty in “The Queen.” She reprises the role in Peter Morgan’s new play, “The Audience,” which has just opened in London. Superlatives abound for Mirren’s performance, but there is less praise for the play itself. In the Guardian, Michael Billington writes, ‘However hard Morgan tries, the evening can’t help but seem like a series of revue sketches: a kind of “1956 And All That.” What holds it together is Stephen Daldry’s adroit production and Helen Mirren’s luminous performance, which, even in a non-linear script, pins down the Queen’s steady growth in confidence and authority.’ David Rooney’s THR review is here. The play may come to Broadway later in the year, even though most of the British political history will mean little to American audiences. A performance will be streamed to movie theatres worldwide on June 13.
