The article published on the website www.telegraph.co.uk on 14 Feb 2013,
is headlined “Helen Mirren: My living portrait of the Queen”. The article is
written by By Sarah Cromptonand. In this article Actress
Helen Mirren, director Stephen Daldry and writer Peter Morgan explain why they
are putting Queen Elizabeth II on stage in their new play, The Audience.
The author also makes special emphasize on the fact that yet ever since she played the
title role in The Queen – the 2006 film directed by Stephen Frears and written
by Peter Morgan – the two have become muddled in people’s minds, making the
Queen seem slightly more beautiful than she is and Mirren rather more regal.
Then the author goes to the aims. The aim is, first and foremost, to give
audiences a good night out. But there is a serious purpose beneath these
imagined conversations between a monarch and her subjects. “As soon as you see
the Queen and the prime minister, it somehow goes to the core of what it is to
be one of us,” he says. “It’s a play about being British and how our country is
put together.” Daldry adds, “And the nature of the constitutional monarchy.
What exactly is the relationship between state and crown and how has that been
negotiated down the years. It’s fascinating.” On stage, she does not portray
the Queen at just one time of her life, but back into her youth. It means she
has to age both down and up with the help of wigs, costumes and subtle shifts
in diction. “Her voice has changed so hugely that if I can somehow access that
young voice, that does so much,” says Mirren. It is, she adds with a wry smile,
“easier to get older than younger, unfortunately.”
The author notices that the actress is understandably
wary of being too closely identified with the Queen. In person, she is
absolutely nothing like either the monarch – or her own slightly glacial public
persona. The beauty and elegance are there, but she has a sharp wit, direct
opinions, and a mischievous humour: she prods Daldry in the ribs when he fails
to say how much he was looking forward to working with her; she roars with
laughter when Morgan teases her about taking a chauffeur-driven car to work
while imagining the Queen separated from the general public.
Unfortunately, the author of the article doesn’t
express his own opinion about this role of Helen Mirren. To my mind it is very
hard to play the Queen. It is rather hard to sit very straight, folding and
unfolding hands from a resting position.
Good
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The author also makes a special emphasize on…