Those in authority
THE AUDIENCE
By Peter Morgan
Director Stephen Daldry
The Gielgud Theatre until June 15
This stage play is about the weekly audience between the Queen and her Prime Ministers. All the Prime Ministers from the 1950s to the present day are included — from Winston Churchill to David Cameron.
There is even a throw-away remark from HRH about the Pope’s resignation to the effect that ‘he could resign but I can’t’.
Helen Mirren is truly fantastic in reprising her role as the Queen which she first took on in the film The Queen. It is not chronological in its presentation. If this is based on fact, it turns out that Harold Wilson was her favourite PM — she found him amusing company and he was completely natural with her, as we might expect from a northerner.
What came across was that the PMs often confided in the Queen about their physical and mental health. She acted as a mentor / counsellor to many of them. The Queen regarded the Commonwealth leaders representing their people as her great friends. When Margaret Thatcher spoke to her about lifting sanctions on South Africa she is portrayed as greatly upset. The monarch must support her PM even if she does not personally approve of their actions. After Maggie has left, the Queen’s Christian faith shows through. Her only recourse is to prayer. So, in a very moving scene, we find the Queen getting down onto her knees and saying the Lord’s Prayer.
This is a play definitely worth going to see, and might well encourage us to fulfill Paul’s injunction in 1 Timothy 2.1,2 to pray for the Queen and those in authority.
