Helen Mirren heading to America with The Audience (EXPRESS)

DAME HELEN MIRREN is set to thrill her American fans with her portrayal of QUEEN ELIZABETH II in hit stage show THE AUDIENCE - the production is heading Stateside next year (14).

The actress has won rave reviews for her role as the monarch in Stephen Daldry's West End production, which dramatises pivotal meetings between the Queen and 12 prime ministers over 60 years - and now U.S. theatre fans will have the chance to see it.

The Daily Mail reports the show is set to open in New York in 2014, and Mirren will resume her role in the play, which is due to finish its London run in June (13).

The actress says, "There are talks and negotiations going on now, and I will be going to do the play over there around this time next year."

READ MORE: http://www.express.co.uk/news/showbiz/387978/Helen-Mirren-heading-to-America-with-The-Audience

Helen Mirren nominated for an Olivier Award TELEGRAPH

By Daisy Bowie-Sell

1:45AM GMT 26 Mar 2013

She has won an Oscar, a Bafta and a Golden Globe for her portrayal of The Queen, and now Helen Mirren will have the chance to add an Olivier to her list of awards won for playing Elizabeth II.

Mirren has been nominated in the Best Actress category this year, for her role in the new play The Audience, directed by Stephen Daldry.

The Audience opened to a string of favourable reviews earlier this month, with Charles Spencer, The Daily Telegraph's theatre critic, calling Mirren's performance 'Magnificent'.

The actress will be competing for the award against Hattie Morahan, who won this year's Evening Standard Theatre Award for her role as Nora in Ibsen's A Doll's House, Billie Piper for The Effect and Kristin Scott Thomas for Old Times.

In the Best Actor category Mark Rylance has been nominated for his acclaimed, cross-dressing performance in Twelfth Night. He is up against Rupert Everett in The Judas Kiss, James McAvoy in Macbeth, Rafe Spall in Constellations and Luke Treadaway in The Curious Incident.

READ MORE:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-news/9953945/Olivier-Award-nominations-Helen-Mirren-nominated-for-best-actress.html

Helen Mirren: Review of THE AUDIENCE (LONDON THEATER)

Review by Peter Brown
2 March 2013

Helen Mirren (Queen Elizabeth II), Haydn Gwynne (Margaret Thatcher),Richard McCabe (Harold Wilson), Paul Ritter (John Major) (Photos by Johan Persson) 

Every week – when the relevant parties are in London – Queen Elizabeth II meets with her current Prime Minister for a cosy chat about … well, we don't actually know what they talk about because no minutes are published, or even kept. And so far as I am aware none of the 12 Prime Ministers who have served during the Queen's 61 year reign has given anything more than a vague hint of what their discussions have covered. So, how do you make a play out of meetings like that?

Peter Morgan's answer to that tricky question is to blend fact and fiction. He draws on what is commonly known about the personalities of various Prime Ministers and the issues they faced during their periods in office, then mixes-in the character of a shrewd, hard-working and intelligent monarch, and finally tops it all off with completely fictional but rather witty dialogue. The recipe proves immensely successful so that the final theatrical dish is humorously entertaining, well-observed, and has enough in the way of authenticity to be (just about) believable.

In the lead, as Queen Elizabeth II, is Helen Mirren who has already had a fairly decent rehearsal for the part, as she won an oscar in 2006 for her portrayal of the same person in the film 'The Queen'. With the kind of experience she has acquired, perhaps she may be missing a few performances in the near future in order to stand in for HMQ while she recovers from her current illness.


READ MORE: http://www.londontheatre.co.uk/londontheatre/reviews/audience.htm