|
Academy Award winner Helen Mirren will return to Broadway this spring as Elizabeth II in Peter Morgan's The Audience, directed by two-time Tony Award winner Stephen Daldry. Opening Night is tonight, March 8, 2015; the limited engagement runs through June 28, 2015 at Broadway's Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. Scroll down to learn more about the company!
In addition to Helen Mirren (Queen Elizabeth II), the cast for The Audience includes Dylan Baker (John Major), Geoffrey Beevers (The Queen's Equerry), Michael Elwyn (Sir Anthony Eden), Judith Ivey (Margaret Thatcher), Dakin Matthews (Winston Churchill), Richard McCabe (Harold Wilson), Rod McLachlan (Gordon Brown), Rufus Wright (David Cameron), Anthony Cochrane (Cecil Beaton / Detective / Bishop), Graydon Long (Footman / Beefeater), Jason Loughlin (Footman / Beefeater), Michael Rudko (Ensemble), Henny Russell (Queen's Secretary), Tracy Sallows (Bobo McDonald), Sadie Sink (Young Elizabeth), Elizabeth Teeter (Young Elizabeth), and Tony Ward (Ensemble).
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.
HELEN MIRREN
Queen Elizabeth II
Helen Mirren has won international recognition for her work on stage, screen and television. For her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen in 2006, she received an Academy Award, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award, and BAFTA Award for Best Actress. She was also named Best Actress by virtually every critics' organization from Los Angeles to London. In 2014 she was honored with the BAFTA Fellowship for her outstanding career in film. On television she played the title role in "Elizabeth I" for which she won Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Awards.
Mirren began her career in the role of Cleopatra at the National Youth Theatre. She then joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, where she starred in such productions as Troilus and Cressida and Macbeth. In 1972, she joined renowned director Peter Brook's Theatre Company and toured the world. Since then her theatre work has spanned numerous productions in the West End, the Fringe, the RSC, the National Theatre and Broadway, including A Month in the Country, for which she received a Tony nomination, and The Dance of Death opposite Ian McKellen. Subsequent productions include Orpheus Descending at the Donmar Warehouse and Mourning Becomes Electra at the National, for which she received an Olivier Best Actress Award nomination. She returned to the National in 2009 in the title role of Racine's Phèdre directed by Nicholas Hytner. This made history when it became the first theatre production to be filmed for "NTLive" and was seen in cinemas throughout the world. In her most recent performance in 2013 in London's West End, she reprised her role of Queen Elizabeth II in Peter Morgan's The Audience, directed by Stephen Daldry, for which she won an Olivier Award for Best Actress.
In 2013 she starred alongside Anthony Hopkins in the film Hitchcock, and with Al Pacino in HBO's "Phil Spector," for which she won a SAG Award for her performance.On television she earned an Emmy and three BAFTAs for playing Jane Tennison in the multi award-winning series "Prime Suspect." Her other television includes "Losing Chase," for which she won aGolden Globe Award, "The Passion of Ayn Rand," for which she won a Emmy Award, "Door to Door" and "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone."
Mirren's latest film is Disney's The Hundred-Foot Journey directed by Lasse Hallstrom and produced by Stephen Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey, in which Mirren portrays a French restaurateur Madame Mallory. Currently in production, Mirren will be starring in The Weinstein's Company's Woman in Gold, in which she plays Maria Altmann, the Austrian Jewish refugee who fought to reclaim her family's paintings that had been stolen by the Nazis in World War II.
Helen Mirren became a Dame of the British Empire in 2003.
DYLAN BAKER
John Major
Dylan Baker's Broadway credits include Mauritius, November and God of Carnage. He earned Tony Award and Drama Desk Award nominations for La Bête and an Obie Award for his performance in Not About Heroes. He starred in Sea of Tranquility at the Atlantic Theatre Company and Homebody/Kabul at the New York Theatre Workshop. Baker was honored with an IFP Gotham Award and an IFP West Independent Spirit Award nomination for the film "Happiness." Additional film credits include Anchorman 2; Selma; Trainwreck; Franny; The Humbling; Secretariat; Revolutionary Road; Hide and Seek; Rick; Spiderman II & III; Head of State; How to Deal; Road to Perdition; Changing Lanes, The Cell; Along came a Spider; Random Hearts; Requiem for a Dream; Celebrity; Trick 'r Treat; Simply Irresistible; Disclosure; Planes, Trains and Automobiles; The Long Walk Home; Delirious; The Hunting Party; Across the Universe; and 2 Days in New York. His TV credits include "Damages," "Chicago Fire," "Chicago PD", HBO's "From the Earth to the Moon," "Murder One," "Drive," "Book of Daniel," "The Pitts, "Feds," HBO's "The Laramie Project," "The Elizabeth Smart Story," "Kings," Political Animals" and recurring roles on "Ugly Betty" and "Burn Notice." He appears as Colin Sweeney on "The Good Wife" for which he received three Emmy Award nominations. He recently completed making his directorial debut onthe feature film, 23 Blast.
GEOFFREY BEEVERS
The Queen's Equerry
Theatre includes: The Heresy of Love, Measure for Measure, A Servant To Two Masters, Pericles, Henry VIII, Comedy of Errors, The Time Of Your Life, Red Star, Mother Courage and The Devils(RSC), The U.N. Inspector, Playing with Fire and The Winter's Tale (National Theatre), The Audience (West End), War and Peace and Passage to India (Shared Experience), Hamlet andThe Antipodes (Shakespeare's Globe), Twelfth Night (English Touring Theatre), Hamlet, Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest and King Lear (USA), Leaving, The Skin Game, Dr Knock, Uncle Vanya, Largo Desolato and King Lear (Orange Tree), 2nd May 1997 (Bush),Romeo and Juliet and The Crucible (The Young Vic), The Robbers (The Gate), The Tower(Almeida), A bequest to the Nation, Dandy Dick and Eurydice (West End).
Television includes: The Tudors, The Genius of Mozart, Goodnight Mr Tom, The South Bank Show on Hardy, Silent Witness, Inspector Morse, Sherlock Holmes, Taggart, Poirot, Holby City, Casualty, The Bill, Doctors, Prime Suspect, Yes Prime Minister, Red Dwarf, Measure For Measure, A Time To Dance, Dr Who, A Very Peculiar Practice, A Very British Coup and Jewel in the Crown.
Film includes: The Clash of Titans, Miss Potter, The Kid, The Edge of Love, The Woodlanders, The Curse of the Pink Panther and Victor/Victoria.
Geoffrey also writes and directs. His adaptation of "Middlemarch" was recently staged at the Orange Tree Theatre.
MICHAEL ELWYN
Anthony Eden
Michael played Sir Anthony Eden in the original production of The Audience at London's Gielgud Theatre. He has since appeared as Leonato in Much Ado About Nothing at London's Old Vic with James Earl Jones and Vanessa Redgrave, directed by Mark Rylance; and as Wyn Griffith in National Theatre Wales' acclaimed production of Mametz, set on the Somme in 1916.
Other theatre includes Rope (Almeida), The Long Road (Soho Theatre), Three Sisters, Cymbeline (Royal Exchange, Manchester), The Solid Gold Cadillac (Garrick Theatre),Revelations (Hampstead Theatre), Broken Glass (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Darwin in Malibu (Birmingham Rep.). A Midsummer Night's Dream, Troilus & Cressida, All's Well That Ends Well (Regent's Park Open Air); The Seagull, A Penny For A Song (Richmond's Orange Tree).
Films include: The Iron Lady, Shadowman, Half Moon Street, The French Lieutenant's Woman, A Touch of Class, Decline and Fall. Michael played a much younger Anthony Eden in NBC'sThe Gathering Storm with Richard Burton as Churchill.
Television includes: Becchi in Da Vinci's Demons (Starz), BBC America'sSharpe's Challenge, The Tudors, The Queen's Sister ,Sir Edward in Robin Hood; Into The Storm (HBO); Small Island, Foyle's War, Lionel Logue in Bertie & Elizabeth (Masterpiece Theater); Burne-Wilke in ABC's War & Remembrance.
JUDITH IVEY
Margaret Thatcher
Judith is the recipient of the Tony, Drama Desk, Obie, and Lucille Lortel Awards. She has been nominated for the Outer Critics' Circle, the Drama League, and Emmy Awards. She also received the Texas Medal of Arts in Theatre, as well as being inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame. Judith most recently performed on Broadway in The Heiress and was nominated for her fourth Tony Award. She has appeared in five solo shows, most notably The Lady with All the Answers, portraying Eppie Lederer, better known as Ann Landers, and was nominated for a fourth Drama Desk award and the Lucille Lortel Award. Judith received the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie. Judith has appeared in over 40 films including Devil's Advocate, Compromising Positions, Love, Hurts, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Flags of Our Fathers, and What Alice Found. She received an Emmy nomination for "What the Deaf Man Heard." Ms. Ivey starred in four television series, the most memorable being "Designing Women" as well as several guest appearances on shows such as "Will and Grace," "Nurse Jackie," "Law and Order: SVU," and "White Collar." Judith is also a stage director with her latest production of Steel Magnolias at the Alliance Theatre this October/November.
DAKIN MATTHEWS
Sir Winston Churchill
Broadway: Rocky (Mickey), The Best Man (Senator Carlin), A Man for All Seasons (Cardinal Wolsey), Henry IV (Warwick/Glendower; Bayfield and Drama Desk Award). Off Broadway:Measure for Measure (Provost) and All's Well That Ends Well (Lafew), Shakespeare in the Park;Where's Charley (Spettigue), Encores; The Winter's Tale (Antigonus) and The Cherry Orchard(Pishchik), Bridge Project at BAM and world tour; Freedomland (Noah), Playwrights' Horizons; The School for Scandal (Sir Peter/Sir Oliver), The Hostage (Pat), Acting Company. Regional: over 250 productions, including:
The Nether, History Boys, The Wood Demon, The Real Thing, Hedda Gabler (CTG, Los Angeles);Yes Prime Minister (Geffen Playhouse); Misalliance, Shadowlands, Major Barbara, Hamlet(South Coast Rep); Prince of L.A, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Old Globe); Three Sisters, Uncle Vanya, Christmas Carol (ACT, San Francisco); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Dallas Theatre Center); King Lear (PICT). Film: over 25 films, including recently Lincoln, True Grit, Zero Charisma. TV: 250 episodes, including recently Elementary, Veep, Castle, Two and a Half Men, Big Bang Theory, and recurring on Gilmore Girls, Desperate Housewives, King of Queens. Mr. Matthews is also an Emeritus Professor of English, a Shakespeare scholar, and an award-winning playwright, translator, and dramaturge.
RICHARD MCCABE
Harold Wilson
Richard is happy to re- join the audience after the London production for which he won an Olivier award for best supporting actor.
Recent theatre includes Fortunes Fool (Old Vic), A Little Hotel on the Side (Theatre Royal Bath), Yes Prime Minister (Gielgud/Apollo). Theatre for the Royal Shakespeare Company (associate artist) include: A Tender Thing, Twelfth Night, King John, Othello, Timon of Athens, The White Devil, Three Hours After Marriage, Troilus and Cressida, The Taming of the Shrew, The Winters Tale, The School of Night, A Midsummer Nights Dream, Doctor Faustus, Epiceone, Hyde Park, Titus Andronicus, The New Inn, The Churchill Play, Misalliance. Other theatre includes the Merry Wives of Windsor, The Way of the World, Absolute Hell, Marat/Sade (Royal National Theatre) The Critic, The Real Inspector Hound, Bingo, Scapino (Chichester)Critic/Inspector Hound Bingo, Doctor Faustus (Young Vic) Amadeus (London Sinfonia Orchestra) Hamlet, The Tempest (Birmingham/Elsinore Castle) The Beau (Theatre Royal Haymarket). Films include: Eye in the Sky, Cinderella, Invisible Woman, Epithet, The Duchess, Nightwatching, The Constant Gardener, Vanity Fair, Tulse Luper Suitcase, Master and Commander, Notting Hill, Persuasion. Television include: Wallander, Lady in Red, Indian Summers, Peaky Blinders, The Great Fire, The Game, Legacy, The Best of Men, The Minor Character Borgia, Einstein and Eddington, A History of the World Backwards, Spooks, Lewis, Jane Eyre, Midsomer Murders, To the Ends of the Earth, Foyles War Waking the Dead, Trial &Retribution.
ROD MCLACHLAN
Gordon Brown
Rod has appeared with Martin Sheen and Al Pacino in Julius Caesar at the New York Shakespeare Festival, and on Broadway with Laura Linney in Holiday. Also on Broadway;Death and the King's Horseman, Our Town, The Real Inspector Hound, Saint Joan, and Timon of Athens, The Government Inspector. At Lincoln Center, When the Rain Stops Falling, andObserve the Sons of Ulster. A member of Atlantic Theater Company, Rod has performed in their productions of Edmund and Clean, Keep Your Pantheon, and School. Rod's play Good Television was produced at the Atlantic Second Stage in 2013. In Los Angeles Rod appeared with Felicity Huffman and Ed Begley Jr. in November and in What the Butler Saw at the Mark Taper, and originated the role of the Messenger in David Mamet's Keep Your Pantheon, part of Two Unrelated Plays at the Kirk Douglas Theater, appearing with Ed O'Neil and David Paymer. Also performed Mamet's School, with John Pankow. His many film credits include:Caught, Superhero Movie!, The Bulls, National Treasure, Spiderman II, Magnolia, Instinct,Conspiracy Theory, Radioland Murders , Where the Money Is TV: Aquarius, Modern Family, The Crazy Ones, Madmen.
RUFUS WRIGHT
David Cameron
Rufus trained at The Central School of Speech and Drama in London. He created the part of David Cameron in the West End production of The Audience and previously worked with Peter Morgan on the original Donmar Warehouse production of Frost/Nixon and in the filmThe Special Relationship.
Other theatre credits include: The 39 Steps (Criterion), The One, The Backroom (Soho Theatre) The Empire (Royal Court), Serious Money, The Madness of George III (Birmingham Rep), Private Lives (Hampstead), Crown Matrimonial (Guildford and Tour), Mary Stuart (Donmar Warehouse and Apollo), Journey's End (Duke of York's), Trust Byron, Life With an Idiot and Franziska (The Gate), Single Spies (West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Secret Garden (Salisbury Playhouse), and Richard II (London Pleasance)
His television work includes: Elementary, Knifeman, Foyle's War, EastEnders, New Tricks, Miranda, White Van Man, Five Daughters, The Thick of It, Taking the Flak, Fanny Hill, Extras, The Quatermass Experiment, Bomber.
Film includes: Quantum of Solace, Spy Game, the forthcoming Michael Winterbottom filmThe Face of an Angel and Andrew Haigh's 45 Years.
Radio includes: Over 20 radio plays for BBC Radio, including three series of North by Northamptonshire and a weekly guest slot on Stephen Merchant's show on BBC 6Music.
ANTHONY COCHRANE
Beaton, Detective, Bishop
Broadway: War Horse, Cymbeline, The Coast of Utopia (Lincoln Center Theater). Off-Broadway: Nikolai and the Others (LCT), Dense Terrain (BAM). 12 years and 18 productions with the Aquila Theatre Company including Othello, Cyrano de Bergerac, Much Ado About Nothing, Julius Caesar, King Lear, Twelfth Night, The Iliad, The Man Who Would Be King, The Invisible Man. Regional: Julius Caesar, Henry VIII (Helen Hayes Nom.), A Winter's Tale (Folger Theatre, DC), Taming Of The Shrew, Hamlet, All's Well That Ends Well, Lettice and Lovage(Alabama Shakespeare Festival). Tovarich (Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey). Amadeus, Much Ado About Nothing, The Tempest (Old Globe). Much Ado About Nothing (LaJolla Playhouse). UK: The Broken Heart, The Wives Excuse, Coriolanus, Julius Caesar (Royal Shakespeare Company). Numerous other repertory productions throughout the UK. Composed original music for over 30 theatre productions. Film: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps; Apocalypse Watch. TV: "Law & Order: SVU," "Benjamin Franklin" (PBS), "Taggart" (Scottish TV), "Neverwhere" (BBC). Training: RSAMD.
GRAYDON LONG
Footman, Beefeater
Graydon is honored to be making his Broadway debut with The Audience! A native of Perrysburg Ohio, Graydon's favorite theater credits include: Kiss Me Kate, Singin' In the Rain, Bye Bye Birdie at the St. Louis MUNY. Off-Broadway: Revolution in the Elbow... (Alex) TV: "Eye Candy," "The Carrie Diaries." Thank you to Mom, Dad, my teachers at CCM, Kira, Bill and Julia!
JASON LOUGHLIN
Footman, Beefeater
Jason is thrilled to be working with such an immensely talented group of practitioners. A native of North Carolina, he has a BA in Theatre from UNC-Charlotte. Jason was last seen on Broadway in Machinal, directed by Lyndsey Turner, and also did the 1st National tour of War Horse, directed by Bijan Sheibani, playing the role of Major Nichols. He has worked regionally in Georgia and North Carolina.
MICHAEL RUDKO
Ensemble
Broadway: Romeo & Juliet, Mary Stuart, The Best Man, Timon of Athens, Serious Money.International: Richard III (Bridge Project); We Are Not These Hands (Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus); True West (Donmar Warehouse); Antony & Cleopatra, Julius Caesar (Globe Theatre, London). Off-Broadway: Titus Andronicus, As You Like It, Love's Labor's Lost, Henry V(TFANA); As You Like It, King Lear, Richard II (Public/NYSF), House for Sale (Transport Group). Regional: ART, Arena Stage, California Shakespeare, Center Stage, Dallas Theater Center, Folger, Geva, Mark Taper Forum, McCarter Theatre, New Jersey Shakespeare, Old Globe, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Shakespeare Theatre DC, Yale Rep, Wilma.
HENNY RUSSELL
Queen's Secretary
Broadway: Machinal directed by Lyndsey Turner; The Winslow Boy directed by Lindsay Posner; The Other Place directed by Joe Mantello; Lombardi directed by Thomas Kail; The Royal Family directed by Doug Hughes; Impressionism directed by Jack O'Brien; Major Barbara directed by Daniel Sullivan. Off-Broadway: Napoleon in Exile (59E59), Fuddy Meers(Minetta Lane), Boy Gets Girl (MTC), Moonlight and Magnolias (MTC), Marion Bridge (Urban Stages), Labor Day (MTC). Regional credits include the Old Globe, Yale Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Hartford Stage, George Street Playhouse, Denver Center, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Hartford TheatreWorks, The Magic Theatre, Virginia Stage Company, Cleveland Play House, Merrimack Rep, Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Paper Mill Playhouse. Film: St. James Place (2015) with Tom Hanks, directed by Steven Spielberg;Freeheld (2015) with Julianne Moore and Ellen Page; Good Ol' Boy (2015); Kilimanjaro; You Don't Know Jack with Al Pacino, directed by Barry Levinson; Revolutionary Road directed by Sam Mendes; Tie A Yellow Ribbon; Loopy. Television: "The Leftovers," "Unforgettable," "Law & Order SVU," "Possible Side Effects," "Law & Order," "Gossip Girl," "Hope & Faith."
TRACY SALLOWS
Bobo McDonald
Tracy was most recently seen on Broadway as "Lady Montague" in Romeo and Juliet with Orlando Bloom and Condola Rashad. Other Broadway credits include Angels In America, Shimada, The Miser, You Never Can Tell and Die Fledermaus at the MET. Tracy's Off-Broadway credits include Aristocrats at Manhattan Theatre Club, Moving Bodies at Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World at the NYMF/Beckett Theatre and The Countess at the Lambs Theatre, to name a few. Regionally Tracy has performed leading roles at the Guthrie Theatre, The Alley Theatre, The American Repertory Theatre, Hartford Stage, Yale Repertory Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, The McCarter Theatre, The New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, Portland Stage Company, The Apollo Theatre in Chicago, The Pittsburgh Public Theatre, the Arizona Theatre Company, and many others. Lots of independent films and many "Law & Order" episodes. Recently Tracy was seen on "Blue Bloods" and "Unforgettable" and she had a recurring role as "Mrs. Kathryn Bader" on HBO's "Boardwalk Empire." Tracy has an extensive voice-over career and is also a member of the BMI/Lehman Engel Advanced Musical Theatre Workshop where she wrote the book, music and lyrics for Curious & Rare, for which she was recently awarded an Anna Sosenko Trust Grant.
TONY WARD
Ensemble
Broadway credits include The Globe Theatre's Twelfe Night/Richard III as Sea Captain/Priest, Steppenwolf Theatre Company's recent production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? as the standby for Tracy Letts, The Old Vic's The Norman Conquests as Tom, Manhattan Theatre Club's The Columnist as Halberstam, in the Broadway National Tour of Twelve Angry Men, Off-Broadway with Manhattan Theatre Club; Wonder of The World, Close-Up Space, and Lost Lake. New York Stage and Film; The Two Orphans and Day One; A Hotel; Evening, at Keen Company Beasley's Christmas Party, and at The Connelly Theatre The Elephant Man andBeyond The Horizon. Regionally he created the role of The Man in the world premiere of Lucinda Coxon's Vesuvius at South Coast Rep, Also at SCR, The Weir and Terra Nova. As You Like It and Edward II at Yale Rep, Morphic Resonance at Westport Country Playhouse, The Steward of Christendom at The Huntington, King Lear, Three Sisters, As You Like It and The Wilder Plays at Baltimore Center Stage. Also, a season at Actors Theatre of Louisville, 2+ seasons with The O'Neill Playwrights Conference, Lincoln Center Directors Lab and The Acting Company (Arms and The Man, Othello, Henry V and A Doll's House.) Film and Television work includes principal roles with This American Life (live at BAM), Mysteries of Laura, Person of Interest, Ironside, Smash, Law and Order, Guiding Light and the recently released James Gray film The Immigrant. He received his MFA from the Yale School of Drama in 1994. He makes his home in Brooklyn with his wife, Karen, and six year-old son, Emmett.
Videos