The Audience NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (59)
See it if you like historical stories on the big stage.
Don't see it if you don't like the british
See it if you love an interesting story and magnificent acting.
Don't see it if if you don't like straight theatre and historical pieces.
See it if You want to see Helen Mirren in a wonderful part for her. The play is interesting and even educational.
Don't see it if you don't care about the Queen of England or British history.
See it if You are interested in British history and would enjoy a masterful performance by an incredible actor and a stellar cast.
Don't see it if British history or the royal family is not your thing, or if you don't care for small ensemble plays without a lot of "action".
See it if You want to see the masterful Helen Mirren giving a brilliant performance in this well written play.
Don't see it if You don't appreciate great theater.
See it if You love Helen Mirren and have any interest in the relationship between the Queen & her Prime Ministers.
Don't see it if You are not interested in British royalty or politics
See it if You love Helen Mirren or great performances
Don't see it if You have no interest in seeing Helen Mirren
See it if you want to see one of our very most talented actresses in the world - Queen Helen. The play is more a series of montages but Helen - wow.
Don't see it if You really need a plot.
Critic Reviews (33)
"'The Audience' remains an elegantly linked series of vignettes. Director Stephen Daldry appears to have felt the need to broaden the subtle comedy of his London hit for American tastes, which further exposes the patchwork nature of Morgan's writing. But it's an exemplary showcase for Mirren's cool authority, keen understanding of character and astonishing transformative skills."
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"'The Audience' takes us candidly behind the scenes of Buckingham Palace for an exhilarating view...From Mr. Morgan’s astute writing and Stephen Daldry’s lively, keenly observant direction, we learn a lot...From start to finish, Helen Mirren explores every subtlety, every physical change...She is miraculous, and 'The Audience' is a royal evening indeed."
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"Aside from giving the redoubtable Helen Mirren another chance to essay Queen Elizabeth II, Peter Morgan's "The Audience" succeeds because it intuits the heavy price a monarch must pay in a constitutional democracy...'The Audience' will be catnip for Anglophiles, certainly. But this play also is an accessible but quite profound exploration of the intersection of the regal and procedural aspects of any government."
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"Helen Mirren is absolutely terrific as Queen Elizabeth II in 'The Audience"...Mirren often changes from one year of Elizabeth’s life to another and back again in full view of the audience - the kind of theatrical magic trick you won’t soon forget. But it pales compared with the way Mirren switches roles from an established, aging ruler to a young woman who holds her own against a colossal statesman swinging his weight around...From time to time, a pair of live corgis appear, a good representation of the play’s approach: cutesy, well-trained, with an undertone of 'Wow, just how great is this Royal?!'"
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"'The Audience' is, by definition, extremely British, and those versed in the Suez Crisis, the African misadventures of Thatcher’s son, and the differences between a snap- and by-election have an advantage. But if you came to see royalty—acting royalty, that is—this is an Audience worth seeking."
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"Helen Mirren is once again playing Queen Elizabeth II in Peter Morgan’s intriguing and insightful drama...With its nonlinear format, the play was bound to be choppy...There is also no overall conflict or plot. But taken as a whole, 'The Audience' is a fascinating meditation on the historic and present day role of the English monarch. Mirren capably handles the challenging role."
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"[Mirren's] technical flawlessness is on vibrant display...It’s a virtuosic turn, no doubt, if one that’s ultimately muted by 'The Audience's struggles to conjure drama or wonder in other ways...None of it is boring; Morgan has injected plenty of laughs, Daldry has directed with cunning and care... But no grand theme worthy of the pageantry emerges."
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"'The Audience' is not a thematically powerful play, with a bang-up dramatic core...The viewer's pleasure derives more from its pageantry than its plot. However, it's the pageantry, Mirren's latest star turn as an ordinary woman living within its elegant boundaries, that does make for bright and highly entertaining theater."
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