Review: THE AUDIENCE at ARTS Theatre

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Thursday 4th November 2021.

The Therry Dramatic Society is closing its 2021 season with The Audience, a revealing, informative, and often, very funny script by Peter Morgan. The play, which premiered in 2013, covers the weekly private meetings, known as audiences, that Queen Elizabeth II held with her numerous Prime Ministers during the sixty years of her reign, to the date of publication. Her first audience was with Sir Winston Churchill, shortly before her coronation on the 2nd June 1953 in Westminster Abbey, and we see that meeting here, as he informs her of how the audiences have traditionally always been conducted. The times are about to change.

Only the Queen and her Prime Ministers know what was really said in any of those very private audiences as nobody else was present and no minutes were taken, so this is a fictional account of what the playwright suggests that the verbal exchanges might have been. Harold Macmillan (PM from Jan '67 to Oct '63), Alec Douglas-Home (Oct '63 to Oct '64), and Edward Heath (June '70 to March '74) are the only three who do not appear. It was Heath, of course, who led Britain into the European Economic Community, or European Union. One cannot help but wonder what an update to the play covering the last eight years, the disastrous Brexit years of Theresa May and Boris Johnson, would reveal. James Callaghan was originally included but was dropped from the script, later, to make room for Tony Blair, and a few minor changes were made to keep the play current.

Directed by Ben Todd, who also designed the sets, the production features Rebecca Kemp as Her Majesty, the Queen. Kemp gives a strong performance in the role, remaining on stage the whole time, shielded by a group of dressers who assist with costume and wig changes between each scene as she goes back and forth through various eras of her reign. This requires subtle character changes commensurate with Elizabeth's different ages and levels of knowledge and experience, which she accomplishes very well.

Lance Jones is the first to appear, as The Equerry, providing the background to the Queen's weekly audiences, and describing the room in which they take place. In the second act, he does the same for the room at Balmoral. He has a commanding presence that amply suits the character, and gives a clear delivery of his lines, injecting life into what could easily have been a mere narrator.

Natasha Scholey appears all too briefly as Margaret 'Bobo' MacDonald, Elizabeth's nanny and, later, dresser and confidante. There's potential for an intimate and revealing two-hander, right there, just waiting to be written. She also appears as another Margaret, the much-hated, Maggie Thatcher. Although she gets plenty of laughs as 'The Iron Maiden', I felt that she tried a bit too hard, tending into caricature, and could afford to pull back a little.

Paul Briske gives the most believable of all of the prime ministerial performances, as Harold Wilson, giving a fully developed characterisation, and displaying a convincing accent. His interactions with Kemp add much to the production and we sympathise with his well-portrayed Harold Wilson, as Alzheimer's Disease forces him to stand down prematurely as Prime Minister.

There is generally plenty of good work from those playing the other Prime Ministers, with Ben Cosford, as Tony Blair and David Cameron, Brad Martin, as John Major, Frank Cwiertniak, as Gordon Brown and Sir Anthony Eden, Greg Janzow, as Winston Churchill and the Archbishop of Canterbury. On opening night, they did not quite reach the same level of characterisation as Briske but, hopefully, they will grow into their characters as the season progresses.

Zara Blight is delightful as the young Elizabeth, who occasionally converses with her older self, but it is the two corgis that upstage everybody and easily steal the scenes in which they appear, as well as getting huge applause when Blight brings them onstage in the final bows. They do say, "Never work with children or animals".

Todd's sets are simple and effective, with back projections adding much detail and, once again, Richard Parkhill has worked his magic with the lighting design, with Sean Smith providing the sound. The costumes, wigs, and superb regal props all added to the production, and piper, Eve MacMillan, added a nice touch to the closing of the evening with Scotland the Brave and Mairi's (Marie's) Wedding.