REVIEW: ‘The Audience’ features Tony-winning Helen Mirren, Richard McCabe

NEW YORK — The Audience is an engaging night at the theater, and that’s mostly because of its dynamic lead performance. Helen Mirren not only won an Academy Award for playing Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen. Now she has earned a Tony Award for reprising the role, albeit in a completely different project. This time she’s in Peter Morgan’s The Audience, currently playing the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on 45th Street in Manhattan.

Mirren, ever the skilled actress, is able to portray the monarch over a multi-decade span, from the day of her coronation to her initial audience with then-Prime Minister Winston Churchill to her most recent meetings with the likes of Tony Blair, David Cameron and Gordon Brown. It’s a bravura performance layered with bouts of youth in the queen’s early years and relaxed, but determined leadership as she became more used to the position.

The premise of Morgan’s piece surrounds a weekly meeting that occurs between the queen and her prime minister. It’s a tradition at Buckingham Palace and includes two chairs, sometimes some tea and a lot of cordial back-and-forth on the news of the day. Each prime minister, from Churchill (Dakin Matthews) to Cameron (Rufus Wright, double duty as Blair as well), is given time in the spotlight, although, inevitably, most eyes can’t leave Mirren’s spot-on portrayal.

Some of the conversations are more fruitful than others. Her brief, yet revealing encounter with Margaret Thatcher is a highlight of the second act. Judith Ivey storms on to the stage as the controversial prime minister, upset that someone in the queen’s camp criticized her administration in the national press. The ensuing scene is one of polite, but pointed barbs where both women stand their ground and try to find holes in each other’s argument. Morgan’s writing is perhaps at its best during this dialogue.

Richard McCabe, who also won a Tony Award, is the best of the prime ministers. His role as Harold Wilson is both humorous and touching. It’s obvious from watching the play — and, hopefully, the drama’s historicity is to be believed — that Queen Elizabeth II and Wilson had a close, amiable relationship. At one point, the monarch is asked about her “favorite” PM, and without exactly answering the question, she’s able to point out Wilson’s friendship as a highlight.

McCabe’s performance is a full-picture type of acting job. From his slouching shoulders to his nervous energy to his genuine regard for solving Britain’s problems, this Wilson is a good guy stuck in a tough position. When he gets together with the queen, she’s able to drop her guard slightly and enjoy a little alcohol and a few laughs.

Stephen Daldry, one of the finest film and theatre directors working today, keeps the action focused and moving along. The action takes place mostly center stage on a beautiful rug with an equally beautiful backdrop that’s made to look like a long corridor at Buckingham Palace. Occasionally a younger, pre-coronation Queen Elizabeth II (Sadie Sink, Elizabeth Teeter) dialogues with the older queen, and although some of these scenes between the two Elizabeths can be cheesy, Daldry and Morgan keep them short and focused on the lessons to be learned.

Mirren is the main draw for most audience members — and for good reason. Her performance is so skilled that it elevates the material and the role. Queen Elizabeth II, who more than anyone else has lived 20th century history, is an interesting character, but a tough person to understand. She’s reserved and polite, yet endearing and likable. She’s seemingly faultless yet positively human. There’s both a fragility and an endurance that make the role a difficult one. Mirren, who has obviously studied the intricacies of the monarch for some time, completely understands and internalizes the many facets of the character. This is a character study worthy of a theatrical proscenium.

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

• The Audience, starring Helen Mirren, is currently playing the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on 45th Street in Manhattan. The play, running two hours and 20 minutes, concludes its limited engagement June 28. Click here for more information.