Helen Mirren kickstarted a vibrant period in her career with the title role in The Queen, Stephen Frears’ 2006 film about the royal reaction to the death of Princess Diana. With her framing of Elizabeth II as slightly haughty but utterly noble, she won an Oscar and made the film a smash hit.
She revisited the role in the 2013 West End production The Audience, also written by Peter Morgan, which imagines six decades of the Queen’s weekly meetings with British prime ministers. Mirren’s performance won her an Olivier award and now she’s playing the part on Broadway, with Stephen Daldry directing.
In a four-star review, the Guardian’s Alexis Soloski writes of Mirren: “She’s vulnerable and zealous as the very young queen … and then a bit more waspish and even a little wicked as she ages 60 years.”
The rest of New York’s critical circle has been similarly impressed. Ben Brantley of the New York Times writes: “Queen Elizabeth, you see, is one of us, or as much of one of us as she can be given her extraordinary upbringing and imprisoning public role. The compulsively watchable Ms Mirren brings out the humor and the pathos in this contradiction.” The tabloids were thrilled too, with Elisabeth Vincentelli of the New York Post saying that “to the surprise of exactly no one, Helen Mirren is absolutely terrific”, while USA Today’s Elysa Gardner wrote: “Mirren, with her usual intelligence and emotional insight, deftly reconciles her sense of entitlement with a deep humility and empathy.”
“Long live the Queen! Long live Queen Helen!” chanted Marilyn Stasio of Variety, praising Mirren’s “subtle skills at adjusting her age, voice, physical presence and state of mind to reflect (or try to hide) her feelings about each of these politicians.” Mark Kennedy of the Associated Press heralded “an astonishing portrayal, by turns prickly and chummy, regal and regular, insecure and temperamental”. Matt Wolf of the Telegraph praised a “puckish” performance.
Hilton Als of the New Yorker meanwhile detected a bit of a minx in Mirren’s portrayal. “Mirren is not a coquettish queen, but she is a sexy one, because she is so controlled, and such a good comedienne behind her cardigan, her sensible shoes, and her pearls. She won’t let Elizabeth’s pale public persona neuter her, and she uses her impassive stare, sometimes, the way a dominatrix might when looking at a tiresome client.”
Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune also celebrated Mirren’s ability to conjure various ages of the Queen, often out of chronology: “Watching Mirren seem to peel off years and cares is nothing short of a dazzling experience.” He was impressed by Morgan too, describing him as “a writer with a notable ability to sail right down the middle between serious drama and gossipy analysis. He has no obvious American equivalent in the theater. And we need one badly.”
Even those who were rather lukewarm to Morgan’s play itself were impressed with Mirren. “It’s really the Helen Mirren show, with her chorus line of prime ministers in black and gray setting off her brilliance,” said Jesse Green of Vulture, who felt the play was “mostly a story of limitations, of compulsory adherence to protocol, and thus completely undramatic”. David Rooney of the Hollywood Reporter also suggests that Mirren saves the material: “Peter Morgan has written not so much a play as a high-toned Anglophile tourist attraction; a reverent theme park ride through six decades of crown and government. And while the writing only occasionally transcends its episodic construction, Helen Mirren’s regally inhabited performance makes it a nuanced character study.”
The production runs at the Gerald Schoenfeld theatre until 28 June.
