Be The Audience

Filmed live from London's Gielgud Theatre, through Peter Morgan's inspired play skilfully realised by director Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot, The Hours), we get to see what happens behind the regal affectation on the balcony and witness the delightful banter between the Queen and her Prime Ministers. For the past 60 years, Queen Elizabeth II has met each of her 12 Prime Ministers in a weekly audience at Buckingham Palace - a meeting like no other in British public life because it is private. Both parties have an unspoken agreement never to repeat what is said. Not even to their spouses.

The Audience breaks this contract of silence and imagines a series of pivotal meetings between the Downing Street incumbents and their Queen. From Churchill to Cameron, each Prime Minister has used these private conversations as a sounding board and a confessional - sometimes intimate, sometimes explosive. In turn, the Queen can't help but reveal her own self as she advises, consoles and, on occasion, teases.

Politicians come and go

From young mother to grandmother, these private audiences chart the arc of the second Elizabethan Age. Politicians come and go through the revolving door of electoral politics, while she remains constant, waiting to welcome her next Prime Minister.

Morgan, who reunites with Academy Award-winning actress Helen Mirren, following their collaboration on the critically acclaimed movie sensation, The Queen, takes us into the heart and soul of a woman at home; a brittle but strong-willed ruler who does what she does best and in her most dignified way (even when nodding off during one of the private chats). Although no one knows what occurred during these private sessions, Morgan's radiant text is a brilliant and truthful imagined constructed scenario that is as hilarious as it warms the heart.

A great device in the play is allowing the Queen to take an introspective during into her childhood, not only watching herself evolve from princess to Her Royal Majesty, but also having conversations with her younger self, questioning and confronting her actions and life. This magnificent interplay between reality and fantasy, and the imagination and truth, is unbelievable.

One of the many highlights is the confrontation between Margaret Thatcher and the Queen, deliberating about sanctions against South Africa, poignantly reflecting the politics and social climate we live in today.

Daldry's direction delivers moments that will truly blow your mind; the instantaneous transformation of the Queen during her later years, to that of her very first audience 60 years earlier, is breathtaking. This does not happen through editing or special effects, but through the magic of live theatre.

An insightful short film before the start of Act 2 takes us behind the scenes into the making of the costumes and almost reveals how the magic transformation occurs.

Mirren is flawless in her performance, commanding every second, also allowing us to see the woman behind the crown; there are moments when you want to take her in your arms and comfort her, and times when you stay clear of her fury. Equally superb are Michael Elwyn as Anthony Eden, Haydn Gwynne as Margaret Thatcher, Robert Hardy as Winston Churchill, Richard McCabe as Harold Wilson, Nathaniel Parker as Gordon Brown, Paul Ritter as John Major and Rufus Wright as David Cameron; the Equerry is Geoffrey Beevers with Bebe Cave, Maya Gerber and Nell Williams alternating as the young Elizabeth.

The National Theatre Live screening of The Audience has four performances only in South Africa - on 3, 4, 7 and 8 August at Cinema Nouveau nationwide and Ster-Kinekor Blue Route in Tokai, Cape Town. The running time of the performance is 2hrs 25mins, with a 20-minute interval.

The screening in Joburg is almost sold out, so if you want to experience The Audience, make sure to book your seats now. For booking information for The Audience, go to www.cinemanouveau.co.za.

Behind the scenes

National Theatre Live enables audiences to experience the best of British theatre throughout the year, as the NT brings cameras into the auditorium to broadcast performances live from stage to screen. The broadcast of The Audience will take the combined total audience for the NT's series of live broadcasts past 1.3 million people. Forthcoming productions from National Theatre Live are Nicholas Hytner's critically acclaimed production of Shakespeare's celebrated Othello on 19, 20, 23, 24 October, with Adrian Lester in the title role and Rory Kinnear as the duplicitous Iago; and Macbeth on 2, 3, 6, 7 November, starring Kenneth Branagh and Alex Kingston live from the Manchester International Festival. Read more at www.writingstudio.co.za/page17.html.

Win tickets to see The Audience

2 Couples can see The Audience for free on Thursday, August 8 at 19:30 at Blue Route - Tokai, Cape Town, Gateway - Durban and Brooklyn in Pretoria. Tell us who directed the play and send your answer and contact details to az.oc.oidutsgnitirw@leinad before closing on Monday, August 5.