NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE: THE AUDIENCE

For more than six decades, Queen Elizabeth II met weekly with successive British prime ministers, from Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher to David Cameron. The production imagines the private conversations that took place behind closed doors and, in its telling, helped shape the country.

Playwright Peter Morgan has long been fascinated by the Windsor dynasty, its splendour and the tensions running through the British royal family. First came THE QUEEN (2006), written by Morgan and starring Helen Mirren as Elizabeth II. In the film, the monarch must respond to a grieving nation after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, while stepping beyond the rigid conventions of royal protocol. Mirren’s formidable performance earned her numerous awards, including the Golden Globe and the Academy Award for Best Actress.

The film deepened Morgan’s fascination with the monarchy, leading him further into the complex world of Britain’s longest-reigning queen. First staged at the Gielgud Theatre in London’s West End in 2013 and recorded live, THE AUDIENCE became one of National Theatre Live’s biggest successes. It also cemented Mirren’s reputation as an outstanding interpreter of the British monarch. She won the Laurence Olivier Award for her performance and later a Tony Award for the New York production.

For director Stephen Daldry, the production also marked a nostalgic return to his roots in theatre and circus, both of which helped shape his approach to contemporary spectacle. His collaboration with Morgan on THE AUDIENCE later fed into the television phenomenon THE CROWN (2016–2023), for which Daldry directed five episodes, Morgan served as lead writer, and Elizabeth II remained at the heart of the story.

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Text: Paula Apanowicz