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Tag: The Audience

  • Kristin Scott Thomas Named Dame by Queen Elizabeth

    Kristin Scott Thomas can add something besides actor to her already impressive resume. On Tuesday, December 30th, Queen Elizabeth named her a dame. The honor is to women what being knighted is to men.

    Kristin Scott Thomas, who is due to play the British monarch in stage play The Audience in 2015, said at first she didn’t believe the news.

    “I am thrilled, astonished and worried that I might suddenly wake up,” she said.

    Scott Thomas received an Academy Award nomination back in 1997 for her role in The English Patient.

    She wasn’t the only one on Tuesday to receive such exciting news, however. Actress Joan Collins, fashion designer Mary Quant (known for designing the mini-skirt back in the 1960s), and actress Emily Watson were all named as dames. Actor John Hurt, chemist Simon Campbell (one of the inventors of the erectile dysfunction medication Viagra), and comic actor James Corden (he will soon take over on The Late Late Show for Craig Ferguson) were all named as knights.

    All of the aforementioned honors are bestowed by the monarch, however they were chosen by committees of civil servants. Nominations came from both the public and the government.

    Knights are hereby addressed as ‘Sir,’ and then the person’s name–for example, Sir Simon Campbell. Dames are addressed as ‘Dame,’ and then their name–for example, Dame Kristin Scott Thomas.

    Congratulations to Dame Kristin Scott Thomas, Dame Joan Collins, Dame Mary Quant, and Dame Emily Watson, as well as to Sir John Hurt, Sir Simon Campbell, and Sir James Corden. May they live up to the expectations of Queen Elizabeth.

  • Queen Elizabeth II To Be Played By Helen Mirren In Broadway’s “The Audience”

    Queen Elizabeth II is coming to Broadway, not to see a show but to be in one. Peter Morgan’s The Audience will run from February 17th through June 28th, 2015 with Helen Mirren taking on the role of the British monarch, according to the Wall Street Journal.

    The play is described as the imagined conversations the Queen has had with British prime ministers during her reign. In real life, the Queen holds these meetings on a regular basis, but the content is kept secret from the public record.

    In a New York Times review of the London production, Morgan’s take on the character of Elizabeth II was described as him having “Elizabeth observe dryly that she knows she’s perceived as ‘a postage stamp with a pulse.’” The review went on to say that “Ms. Mirren astutely delivers both aspects of that description, with the pulse in the ascendant. That is nothing less than her loyal subjects expect of her.”

    Mirren’s performance in “The Audience” is already familiar to patrons of London’s West End. The production opened in January of last year in the Gielgud Theatre. Stephen Daldry directed that production as well. The cast included Haydn Gwynne as Margaret Thatcher, Edward Fox as Winston Churchill, Paul Ritter as John Major, Michael Elwyn as Anthony Eden, Nathaniel Parker as Gordon Brown and Rufus Wright as David Cameron. According to the official website, the play closed in June 2013.

    For non-theatergoers, Netflix may soon have its own version of the play, called The Crown. According to reports, the show will portray the monarch “over the course of various historical events during her reign,” and instead of just Helen Mirren, it may have “different actresses portraying the Queen at different points in her life.”

    Image via NationalTheatre, YouTube