Hellen Mirren to Star in 'Phaedra', Directed by Nicholas Hytner

What's on Stage is reporting that Academy Award winner Helen Mirren will be starring in a production of Jean Racine's Phaedra on the West End, directed by Nicholas Hytner.

What's on Stage reports, "Mirren takes the title role Jean Racine’s 1677 classic tragedy, in a version by Ted Hughes, based on a Greek myth about a queen who falls passionately in love with her stepson in her husband’s absence. She follows in the footsteps of other famous Phaedras including Glenda Jackson, Diana Rigg and, most recently at the Donmar Warehouse in 2006, Clare Higgins. Tyzack, just seen at the Donmar this summer in Enid Blyton’s comedy The Chalk Garden, will play Mirren’s nurse and confidante Oenone."

Mirren has won international recognition for performances spanning four decades.  For her role as Queen Elizabeth II in Miramax's “The Queen,” Mirren won an Academy Award, Golden Globe, SAG, BAFTA and Critic's Choice Award.  In addition, she was named Best Actress by every critic's organization from Los Angeles to London.  At the Venice Film Festival she won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress and received a five-minute standing ovation for her performance after the film's premiere. Mirren has also received significant recognition for two other performances she filmed in the same year as “The Queen.”  For HBO, she portrayed Queen Elizabeth I in the miniseries “Elizabeth I.”  She won an Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Award for that role.  The two-part series explored the queen's public and private life late in her reign.  Mirren also reprised her long-running character Detective Jane Tennison in “Prime Suspect: The Final Act,” the last installment in the PBS series.  The performance earned her a Golden Globe nomination, however she lost to herself – she was nominated twice in the same category.  The character previously won her an Emmy and three BAFTA Awards.

Photo Credit Sara De Boer, Retna Ltd.