Helen Mirren in The Audience

It isn’t easy being queen. Unless you are Helen Mirren, aka DCI Tennison and everybody’s favorite Elizabeth II—unelected hereditary ruler, not ocean liner. Save yourself air fare or boat fare and see a West End London play live in the comfortable hi-def virtual front row of the National Theatre when the Barclay presents Peter Morgan’s second take on her majesty, who’s met weekly with her Prime Suspect, err, Prime Minister for sixty years. Morgan’s screenplay for The Queen helped rebrand the unpopular monarch after Di’s death, making her seem nearly human. If you’re in the audience of The Audience, you’ll find her royal once again but political, funny. The butler shows Churchill, Cameron, and you into Buckingham Palace, with plenty of corgis and wit—and yes, if Helen M. were queen maybe we’d object less here in the colonies.

Sat., Sept. 7, 2 N 7:15 p.m., 2013

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