The Audience starring Kristin Scott Thomas

[caption id="attachment_37176" align="alignright" width="317"] David Cameron (Mark Dexter) & The Queen (Kristen Scott Thomas)[/caption] Peter Morgan updates The Audience to reflect the results of the 2015 General Election. In light of the General Election, Peter Morgan has wasted no time in updating the script for The Audience - a play about the weekly meeting between the Queen and her Prime Ministers .  Only 1 day after the election,  and on the day the Queen invites David Cameron to form a new Government, the updated scene between The Queen and David Cameron, played by Kristin Scott Thomas and Mark Dexter, will be performed for the first time at this evening’s performance. Peter Morgan said “In the same week as we opened The Audience it’s been particularly interesting to have experienced such a dramatic general election. This morning I have rewritten the scene in my play between The Queen and David Cameron to reflect the events of last night and this morning. Kristin Scott Thomas and Mark Dexter will be rehearsing this new dialogue this afternoon and I hope tonight’s audience in particular will enjoy our immediate response today’s results.” Stephen Daldry’s production of The Audience starring Kristen Scott Thomas opened at the Apollo Theatre earlier this week and is currently booking to 25 July 2015. BOOK Book Tickets to The Audience

Stepehen Daldry's production of The Audience starring Kristen Scott Thomas as The Queen has announced full casting.   Joining Kristin Scott Thomas in a new and updated version of Peter Morgan’s The Audience are David Calder as Winston Churchill, Mark Dexter as David Cameron, Michael Gould as John Major, Gordon Kennedy as Gordon Brown, Sylvestra Le Touzel as Margaret Thatcher, David Robb as Anthony Eden and Nicholas Woodeson as Harold Wilson. David Peart plays the Equerry, Charlotte Moore will play Bobo MacDonald and Private Secretary, Marnie Brighton, Madeleine Jackson-Smith and Izzy Meikle-Small will alternate in the role of Young Elizabeth and Matt Plumb and Harry Feltham will play the footmen. The Audience will play at the Apollo Theatre from 21 April 2015. [ngg src="galleries" ids="465" display="basic_imagebrowser"] 

Acclaimed stage and screen actress Kristin Scott Thomas has been recognised in the 2015 New Year honours list. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="240"] Kristin Scott Thomas made a Dame[/caption] The celebrated actress, who recently starred in Electra at the Old Vic and will shortly star as The Queen in Peter Morgan's revival of his play The Audience at the Apollo Theatre in April, will be made a dame. Actor John Hurt, one of the most prominent screen actors of his generation, has also been honoured with a much overdue knighthood for work including The Elephant Man, Midnight Express and The Naked Civil Servant. Joan Collins has also been awarded a damehood, for all of her charitable and philanthropic work, under the diplomatic and overseas honours list for 2015. Other West End figures to be honoured in the New Year list include CBEs for Meera Syal MBE who is currently starring in David Hare's new play Behind the Beautiful Forevers at the National Theatre, the Southbank Centre’s artistic director Jude Kelly, opera and theatre director Richard Jones and Chief Executive of the Arts Council England, Alan Davey. Actors and actresses in the list include James Corden and Sheridan Smith, both of whom get an OBE. The pair starred together in TV comedy Gavin and Stacey and both have impressive stage and screen credits including Corden's current Hollywood movie of Sondheim's Into the Woods and his award-winning stage role in Richard Bean's One Man Two Guvnors, and Smith's screen work in recent ITV drama Cilla and acclaimed West End roles including Legally Blonde The Musical. Actress Emily Watson is also honoured with an OBE. Two prominent theatre designers are celebrated on the list, with Olivier Award winner Es Devlin getting an OBE for work that includes Chimerica and forthcoming West End transfer The Nether, and an MBE for theatre designer Tom Piper who designed the Poppies installation at the Tower of London and is an RSC associate designer. Theatre creatives honoured include OBEs for Barrie Rutter, founder and artistic director of Northern Broadsides, Jeanetta Laurence, associate director of the Royal Ballet, Joseph Seelig, co-Founder of the London International Mime Festival and Faith Liddell, director of the Festivals Edinburgh; Also MBEs for outgoing artistic director of the Curve Theatre in Leicester, Paul Kerryson, Graeme James Phillips, artistic director of the Unity Theatre  and John Woolf, Head of Music at the Royal Shakespeare Company. LINKS 2015 New Year Honours list in full BOOK Book tickets to The Audience at the Apollo Theatre starring Kristin Scott Thomas

First Look at Kristin Scott Thomas as Her Majesty The Queen, in The Audience at the Apollo Theatre A photo has been released of Kristin Scott Thomas in costume as Queen Elizabeth II, ahead of the opening of The Audience at the Apollo Theatre. This new version of Peter Morgan’s play will be directed by Stephen Daldry and run at the Apollo Theatre from 21 April 2015 to 25 July 2015. The play originally starred Helen Mirren, who is to open the drama on Broadway in February 2015. Kristin Scott Thomas is current starring in Electra at the Old Vic, until 20 December 2014. For sixty years Elizabeth II has met each of her twelve Prime Ministers in a weekly audience at Buckingham Palace. Both parties have an unspoken agreement never to repeat what is said, not even to their spouses. The Audience imagines a series of pivotal meetings between the Downing Street incumbents and their Queen. From Churchill to Cameron, each Prime Minister uses 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. These private audiences chart the arc of the second Elizabethan Age, from the beginning of Elizabeth II's reign to today. Politicians come and go through the revolving door of electoral politics, while she remains constant, waiting to welcome her next Prime Minister. Photo by Jason Bell. BOOK Book tickets to Kristin Scott Thomas in The Audience at the Apollo Theatre PHOTO [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Kristin Scott Thomas as The Queen in The Audience. Photo : Jason Bell[/caption] BOOK Book tickets to Kristin Scott Thomas in The Audience at the Apollo Theatre

Peter Morgan's hit play The Audience is to be revived in London starring Kristin Scott Thomas [caption id="" align="alignright" width="240"] The Audience to return to London in Spring 2015[/caption] Stephen Daldry's acclaimed production of The Audience is to have a major West End revival, coming to the Apollo Theatre in London from 21 April 2015. Kristin Scott Thomas, who is currently starring in Ian Rickson's hugely successful revival of Electra at the Old Vic Theatre, will follow Helen Mirren in the role of the Queen. The show will preview at the Apollo Theatre from 21 April 2015, with press night on 5 May 2015 and is booking to 25 July 2015. This new, updated version of Peter Morgan’s play sees Stephen Daldry return to directing duties, plus designs by Bob Crowley, lighting by Rick Fisher, sound by Paul Arditti and music by Paul Englishby. The play looks at the weekly audiences that Queen Elizabeth II has held with each of her twelve Prime Ministers over the last sixty years. Both parties have an unspoken agreement never to repeat what is said, not even to their spouses. The Audience imagines a series of pivotal meetings between the Downing Street incumbents and their Queen. From Churchill to Cameron, each Prime Minister uses 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. These private audiences chart the arc of the second Elizabethan Age, from the beginning of Elizabeth II's reign to today. Politicians come and go through the revolving door of electoral politics, while she remains constant, waiting to welcome her next Prime Minister. Further casting is to be announced shortly. The show has proved a huge draw for its Broadway run at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre starring original West End lead Helen Mirren as The Queen. The play runs in New York from 17 February 2015. Stephen Daldry will be in Broadway to direct both The Audience and a Broadway revival of David Hare’s play Skylight at the John Golden Theatre starring Bill Nighy, Carey Mulligan and Matthew Beard at the same time. BOOK Book tickets to The Audience at the Apollo Theatre in London Book tickets to The Audience at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in New York Book tickets to Skylight at the John Golden Theatre in New York Book tickets to Electra at the Old Vic Theatre BACKGROUND NOTES More about Kristin Scott Thomas Multi award-wining theatre and film actor Kristin Scott Thomas has recently opened to great critical acclaim in the title role in Sophocles' Electra at the Old Vic. Previously she has been seen in the West End in Ian Rickson’s productions of The Seagull, Betrayal and Old Times, Jonathan Kent’s production of As You Desire Me and Michael Blakemore’s production of Three Sisters, both for the Playhouse Theatre in London. Her extensive film credits include Sous Ton Emprise, Une Femme Parfaite and Nowhere Boy as well as Only God Forgives, Bel Ami, Salmon Fishing in Yemen, Easy Virtue, The Other Boleyn Girl, Gosford Park, The Horse Whisperer, The English Patient, Mission Impossible, Angels & Insects and Four Weddings and a Funeral. More about Peter Morgan Peter Morgan is an international award-winning writer for stage, screen and film. As well as receiving Oscar and BAFTA nominations for his screenplay for Stephen Frears’ The Queen starring Helen Mirren, Morgan won a host of international awards including Golden Globe, British Independent Film and Evening Standard British Film Awards. The award-winning Frost/Nixon received critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic before being adapted into an Academy Award®-nominated film of the same name. The film garnered five Oscar nominations, including Best Screenplay. His many other film credits include the award-winning The Last King of Scotland, The Damned United and Rush. His extensive television credits include the critically acclaimed The Deal – the first part of Morgan’s Tony Blair Trilogy (BAFTA Award for Best Drama), The Special Relationship and Longford. More about Stephen Daldry Stephen Daldry most recently directed the sell-out West End production of David Hare’s Skylight at the Wyndham’s Theatre. In 2013 he directed the world premiere of Peter Morgan’s The Audience with Helen Mirren. Daldry started his career at the Sheffield Crucible Theatre and directed extensively in Britain’s regional theatres. In London he was Artistic Director of the Gate Theatre and the Royal Court Theatre. He has also directed at the National Theatre, the Public Theatre in New York and transferred many productions both to Broadway and the West End. His hugely successful 1992 National Theatre production of An Inspector Calls recently toured the UK. Daldry has also directed for BBC Radio and Television. His production of Billy Elliot the Musical is currently playing in London and on tour across the US having previously played on Broadway, in Sydney, Melbourne, Chicago and Toronto. His four films Billy Elliot, The Hours, The Reader and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close together received 19 Academy Award® nominations and two wins. His latest film, Trash, premiered at the Rio Film Festival earlier this month. Daldry was Creative Executive Producer of Ceremonies for the London Olympic Games.

Production photos of The Audience at the Gielgud Theatre starring Helen Mirren [caption id="" align="alignright" width="240"] Helen Mirren as The Queen in The Audience. Photo: Johan Persson[/caption] Stephen Dalrdy's production of The Audience by Peter Morgan has opened at the Gielgud Theatre in London. Joining Helen Mirren who plays The Queen in the world premiere of Peter Morgan’s The Audience are Michael Elwyn as Anthony Eden, Haydn Gwynne as Margaret Thatcher, Richard McCabe as Harold Wilson, Nathaniel Parker as Gordon Brown, Paul Ritter as John Major, Rufus Wright as David Cameron and Edward Fox as Winston Churchill. The Equerry is Geoffrey Beevers and the role of Young Elizabeth is played by Bebe Cave, Maya Gerber and Nell Williams. David Peart plays James Callaghan who is joined by ensemble members Jonathan Coote, Ian Houghton and Charlotte Moore. The Audience runs until 15 June 2013 at the Gielgud Theatre. Designs are by Bob Crowley with lighting by Rick Fisher, sound by Paul Arditti, music by Paul Englishby and video by Ian William Galloway. Photos by Johan Persson Viewing this on a tablet or mobile? Click here to see photos BOOK Book tickets to The Audience at the Gielgud Theatre starring Helen Mirren

Helen Mirren as Her Majesty The Queen in Peter Morgan's new play The Audience at the Gielgud Theatre in London. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Helen Mirren as The Queen in new play The Audience. Photo: Johan Persson[/caption] The first photo has been released of Dame Helen Mirren as The Queen in new play The Audience at the Gielgud Theatre in London. Written by "The Queen" screenwriter Peter Morgan, the play is set during the Queen’s weekly audience with her Prime Ministers and spans The Queen's entire 60 year reign. Stephen Daldry directs Mirren and an all star cast of British Prime Ministers through the ages including 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 and the role of Young Elizabeth will be played by Bebe Cave, Maya Gerber and Nell Williams. The Audience is now playing at the Gielgud Theatre in London until 15 June 2013. Photo by Johan Persson. Book tickets to see Helen Mirren in The Audience at the Gielgud Theatre in London

Rehearsal photos of The Audience starring Helen Mirren at the Gielgud Theatre. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="240"] Helen Mirren in rehearsals for The Audience at the Gielgud Theatre. Photo: Johan Persson[/caption] Some productions are hyped as "greatly anticipated" and some actually deserve the badge. In the last few years it's hard to think of a new West End play that has created such a buzz as The Audience, the latest work by The Queen and The Deal scriptwriter Peter Morgan. Morgan returns to the subjects of Her Majesty The Queen and government in this new play set during the Queen's weekly audiences with her Prime Ministers. Directed by Stephen Daldry, fresh from managing the success of the opening and closing ceremonies at London's Olympic games, The Audience sees Helen Mirren put her crown back on as The Queen, following her Oscar winning movie performance as the monarch. She is joined by a solid line-up of talent to play her prime ministers through the ages, including 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 and the role of Young Elizabeth will be played by Bebe Cave, Maya Gerber and Nell Williams. The Audience kicks off at the Gielgud Theatre from 15 February 2013. Photos by Johan Persson. Viewing this on a tablet or mobile? Click here to see photos Book tickets to The Audience starring Helen Mirren at the Gielgud Theatre

Joining Helen Mirren as The Queen in the world premiere of Peter Morgan’s The Audience will be Haydn Gwynne who will play Margaret Thatcher, Robert Hardy as Winston Churchill and Paul Ritter as John Major. Stephen Daldry’s production will preview at the Gielgud Theatre from 15 February 2013, with press night on 5 March 2013 and is currently booking to 15 June 2013. Designs are by Bob Crowley, lighting by Rick Fisher and sound is by Paul Arditti and video by Ian William Galloway. Further casting will be announced shortly. For sixty years Elizabeth II has met each of her twelve Prime Ministers in a weekly audience at Buckingham Palace - a meeting like no other in British public life – 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. 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. Haydn Gwynne is reunited with Stephen Daldry having played Mrs Wilkinson in the world premiere of Billy Elliot The Musical, a role she later recreated on Broadway where she won the Outer Critics Circle Award and Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Actress in a Musical. She can currently be seen on tour playing Stephanie Abrahams opposite William Gaunt in Duet for One. Her other recent theatre credits include Queen Elizabeth I in Richard III in Sam Mendes’ The Bridge Project, Susan in Becky Shaw at the Almeida Theatre and Mrs Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor in Greg Doran’s Royal Shakespeare Company production. On television her credits include Midsomer Murders, The Great Game, New Tricks, Dalziel & Pascoe, Consenting Adults and Drop the Dead Donkey. Her film credits include Hunky Dory, These Foolish Things, Remember Me and The Pleasure Principle. Paul Ritter has recently been seen at the National Theatre in Marianne Elliot’s sell-out production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. His other National Theatre credits include The Hothouse, The Reporter, The Coast of Utopia, Howard Katz and Coram Boy and for the Royal Shakespeare Company his credits include Troilus and Cressida and The White Devil. His other theatre credits include The Norman Conquests and The Birthday Party in the West End and Accidental Death of An Anarchist for the Donmar Warehouse. On television he can currently be seen in Channel 4’s Friday Night Dinner. His other television credits include The Function Room, Vera, Great Expectations, Land Girls, The Night Watch and Lark Rise to Candleford. His film credits include Complicit, The Eagle, Nowhere Boy, Quantum of Solace, On a Clear Day, The Libertine and The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz. Theatre, film and television actor Robert Hardy has previously played Churchill seven times including Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years and most recently in Celui qui a dit Non in Paris in French. His extensive theatre career includes four seasons in Stratford for the Royal Shakespeare Company and two seasons at the Old Vic. In the UK and US his theatre credits include Hamlet, Henry V, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and King Lear and in the West End his credits include Rosmersholm, The Rehearsal, A Severed Head, The Constant Couple, Habeas Corpus and Dear Liar. His film credits include The Shooting Party, The Far Pavilions, Paris by Night, War and Remembrance, Sense and Sensibility, Mrs Dalloway, The Titchborne Claimant ,The Spy Who Came in From the Cold and four Harry Potter films as Cornelius Fudge. He played Siegfried Farnon in the television adaptation of James Herriot’s All Creatures Great and Small and was made a CBE in the 1981 Queen’s Birthday honours. The Audience is produced in the West End by Matthew Byam Shaw for Playful Productions, Robert Fox and Andy Harries. Release issued by: Premier PR LINKS Book tickets to The Audience starring Helen Mirren at the Gielgud Theatre

Dame Helen Mirren is set to reprise her role as the Queen in new West End play The Audience written by Peter Morgan and directed by Stephen Daldry. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="240"] Helen Mirren in 2006 movie The Queen[/caption] Following her Oscar winning performance as Elizabeth II in Stephen Frears' 2006 film The Queen, writer of the screenplay Peter Morgan has penned a new play about the Queen. The Audience is about the confidential Wednesday weekly meeting at Buckingham Palace between the Queen and the Prime Minister and will cover some of the 12 Prime Ministers who have served during her reign. The play will be directed by Stephen Daldry, who directed both the movie and stage version of Billy Elliot and is currently creative director of the opening and closing ceremonies of the London Olympic games. Helen Mirren won a slew of awards in for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth in the 2006 movie The Queen, which showed the monarch struggle to come to terms with the country's out-pouring of grief following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Mirren was meticulous in her research for the role and it has been rumoured for some time that she would like to return to further explore the Queen. There is already speculation that the play may be turned into a movie, directed by Daldry. Mirren last appeared on the London stage in 2009 playing Phedre at the National Theatre. Peter Morgan has written a host of successful plays and screenplays, with particular focus on dramatising real-life events, including The Deal about Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and the successful Donmar play and subsequent movie Frost/Nixon. BOOKING Book tickets The Audience starring Helen Mirren at the Gielgud Theatre in London