years) between the Queen and her various PMs – and was immediately presented with a challenge. How could one tell the story without it feeling linear and inevitable? How could one avoid the almost audible ticking off in theatregoers’ heads as PMs came on and off the stage? Nothing is enjoyable if there is no sense of surprise – and everyone knows who they all were, even if they can’t quite remember all their names.
So I decided to tell it in a non-linear way, leaving out some PMs. Who to drop and why? I wrestled long and hard with this and, as we head into rehearsals, I have made my decisions. But by curtain-up, it might be totally different. Who knows?
Peter Morgan
This article first appeared in
The Guardian
on 14 January 2013, and is reprinted by kind permission.
The Audience was first produced at the Gielgud Theatre, London, on 15 February 2013, presented by Matthew Byam Shaw, Robert Fox and Andy Harries. The cast was as follows:
Queen Elizabeth II Helen Mirren
Sir Anthony Eden Michael Elwyn
Margaret Thatcher Haydn Gwynne
Winston Churchill Robert Hardy
Harold Wilson Richard McCabe
Gordon Brown Nathaniel Parker
John Major Paul Ritter
David Cameron Rufus Wright
James Callaghan/Ensemble David Peart
Equerry Geoffrey Beevers
Young Elizabeth Bebe Cave, Maya Gerber, Nell Williams
Ensemble Jonathan Coote, Ian Houghton, Charlotte Moore
Director
Stephen Daldry
Designer
Bob Crowley
Lighting Designer
Rick Fisher
Sound Designer
Paul Arditti
Video Designer
Ian William Galloway
Composer
Paul Englishby
Hair and Wigs Designer
Ivana Primorac
Characters
Queen Elizabeth II
Young Elizabeth
Winston Churchill
Anthony Eden
Harold Wilson
James Callaghan
Margaret Thatcher
John Major
Gordon Brown
David Cameron
Equerry
Bobo Macdonald
Dressers
Private Secretaries
Detectives
THE AUDIENCE
Act One
A darkened stage. Bare. The Queen’s Equerry-in-Waiting, a Lieutenant-Commander LVO Royal Navy, walks on.
Black military uniform, with braided gold cord on the right shoulder, red stripe on the side of the trousers.
On his shoulders, small black epaulettes with a gold crown and the sovereign’s insignia as a fastener. One or two medals. He turns to face the audience.
Equerry Every Tuesday, at approximately 6.30 p.m., the Queen of the United Kingdom has a private audience with her Prime Minister. It is not an obligation. It is a courtesy extended by the Prime Minister, to bring Her Majesty up to speed. The meeting takes place in the Private Audience Room located on the first floor of Buckingham Palace.
The Equerry turns, indicating the darkened space.
A large, duck-egg blue room. High ceilings, a fireplace, a Chippendale bureau. Four gilt-framed paintings, two by Canaletto, two by Gainsborough. At the centre of the room, two chairs made by François Hervé, in 1826. Their original colour was burgundy, but Queen Mary had them re-upholstered in more optimistic yellow Dupioni silk. One drawback to the yellow is that it stains easily, and the chairs have needed several refreshments. According to household records, they were last re-upholstered in a yellow that almost matched the original on 13th January 1995.
The Equerry walks off.
As he goes, we reveal the audience room, with two yellow chairs. Freshly upholstered
.
In one chair is the sixty-nine year old Queen
Elizabeth II. Opposite her is John Major, fifty-two. Her ninth Prime Minister.
Major I only ever wanted to be ordinary.
A silence. The Queen stares.
Elizabeth And in which way do you consider you’ve failed in that ambition?
Major What’s going on in my political life at the moment is just so
extra
ordinary. My government is tearing itself apart. I withdrew the whip from eight of my backbenchers in an attempt to restore party discipline, but it’s achieved nothing. When they’re not out there
So I decided to tell it in a non-linear way, leaving out some PMs. Who to drop and why? I wrestled long and hard with this and, as we head into rehearsals, I have made my decisions. But by curtain-up, it might be totally different. Who knows?
Peter Morgan
This article first appeared in
The Guardian
on 14 January 2013, and is reprinted by kind permission.
The Audience was first produced at the Gielgud Theatre, London, on 15 February 2013, presented by Matthew Byam Shaw, Robert Fox and Andy Harries. The cast was as follows:
Queen Elizabeth II Helen Mirren
Sir Anthony Eden Michael Elwyn
Margaret Thatcher Haydn Gwynne
Winston Churchill Robert Hardy
Harold Wilson Richard McCabe
Gordon Brown Nathaniel Parker
John Major Paul Ritter
David Cameron Rufus Wright
James Callaghan/Ensemble David Peart
Equerry Geoffrey Beevers
Young Elizabeth Bebe Cave, Maya Gerber, Nell Williams
Ensemble Jonathan Coote, Ian Houghton, Charlotte Moore
Director
Stephen Daldry
Designer
Bob Crowley
Lighting Designer
Rick Fisher
Sound Designer
Paul Arditti
Video Designer
Ian William Galloway
Composer
Paul Englishby
Hair and Wigs Designer
Ivana Primorac
Characters
Queen Elizabeth II
Young Elizabeth
Winston Churchill
Anthony Eden
Harold Wilson
James Callaghan
Margaret Thatcher
John Major
Gordon Brown
David Cameron
Equerry
Bobo Macdonald
Dressers
Private Secretaries
Detectives
THE AUDIENCE
Act One
A darkened stage. Bare. The Queen’s Equerry-in-Waiting, a Lieutenant-Commander LVO Royal Navy, walks on.
Black military uniform, with braided gold cord on the right shoulder, red stripe on the side of the trousers.
On his shoulders, small black epaulettes with a gold crown and the sovereign’s insignia as a fastener. One or two medals. He turns to face the audience.
Equerry Every Tuesday, at approximately 6.30 p.m., the Queen of the United Kingdom has a private audience with her Prime Minister. It is not an obligation. It is a courtesy extended by the Prime Minister, to bring Her Majesty up to speed. The meeting takes place in the Private Audience Room located on the first floor of Buckingham Palace.
The Equerry turns, indicating the darkened space.
A large, duck-egg blue room. High ceilings, a fireplace, a Chippendale bureau. Four gilt-framed paintings, two by Canaletto, two by Gainsborough. At the centre of the room, two chairs made by François Hervé, in 1826. Their original colour was burgundy, but Queen Mary had them re-upholstered in more optimistic yellow Dupioni silk. One drawback to the yellow is that it stains easily, and the chairs have needed several refreshments. According to household records, they were last re-upholstered in a yellow that almost matched the original on 13th January 1995.
The Equerry walks off.
As he goes, we reveal the audience room, with two yellow chairs. Freshly upholstered
.
In one chair is the sixty-nine year old Queen
Elizabeth II. Opposite her is John Major, fifty-two. Her ninth Prime Minister.
Major I only ever wanted to be ordinary.
A silence. The Queen stares.
Elizabeth And in which way do you consider you’ve failed in that ambition?
Major What’s going on in my political life at the moment is just so
extra
ordinary. My government is tearing itself apart. I withdrew the whip from eight of my backbenchers in an attempt to restore party discipline, but it’s achieved nothing. When they’re not out there
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