An updated version of The Audience has opened in the Apollo Theatre in the West End, with Kristin Scott Thomas starring as the Queen. Peter Morgan's play debuted two years ago and is currently a hit on Broadway with its original star, Helen Mirren, who has just been nominated for a Tony award.
The play imagines the secret discussions between the Queen and a succession of prime ministers from Churchill to Cameron during weekly private audiences over the past 60 years. Stephen Daldry's revival includes a partial rewrite to factor in the imminent general election and, perhaps, a new prime minister.
Yet the timing was entirely coincidental, reports Holly Davis in The Independent, as the play was scheduled to suit Scott Thomas's commitments.
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The actress is certainly regal, says Davis, cutting an "elegant, refined" figure with her "chin lifted and nose looked down." She may not be the most natural fit for the Queen – she is "glamorous in a way even twinsuits over fatsuits for the later years can't hide" – but her slicing comic subtlety, says Davis, "is a treat".
Dominic Maxwell in The Times agrees. "It takes right-royal nerve to replace Helen Mirren in one of her most celebrated roles," says Maxwell, "yet Kristin Scott Thomas pulls it off." Scott Thomas, says Maxwell, "proves every bit as fascinating as the Queen in this top-notch revival".
Quentin Letts in the Daily Mail isn't so sure. He claims he was almost banned from attending the press night, possibly because of an earlier, negative article he wrote about Scott Thomas's acting. She is, he says, "no Helen Mirren".
The Audience is such a great play that it's hard to imagine any Queen bombing entirely, admits Letts. But Scott Thomas "can sound sneery" and "does not command the stage".
Michael Billington in The Guardian has doubts about the play itself, calling it "a series of sketches". Billington says The Audience has less to say about the monarchy than Mike Bartlett's King Charles III, and accuses it of having "a disdain for elected politicians that I, for one, cannot share".
But Dominic Cavendish in the Daily Telegraph is having none of it. He calls Morgan's play "enthralling and royally entertaining", and says an "icily regal" Scott Thomas "easily holds her own against the gilded memory of Helen Mirren".
It's also incredibly topical, says Cavendish. The play will be rewritten to reflect the outcome of tomorrow's vote, and there's even an actor waiting to play Miliband, in case a new name is added to the prime ministerial roll-call.
