The Audience
by Peter Morgan

Name: The Audience
Brand: Peter Morgan
SKU: 9780571304066
Rating: 4.25 (313 reviews)

The Audience Book Cover — The Audience Cover

Highlights

Large Cast

Female

Male

Unit Set/Multiple SettingsBritish Historical

What readers are saying

Readers appreciate the intriguing portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II's interactions with her Prime Ministers over nearly 60 years. Many commend Peter Morgan's writing as sharp and engaging, highlighting both historical insights and character depth. The performances, especially by Helen Mirren, receive consistent praise, although some find the narrative's structure a bit confusing at times.

Brilliant writing and performancesEngaging historical insightsCaptivating character interactionsNarrative structure can be confusing

Synopsis

For sixty years Elizabeth II has met each of her twelve prime ministers in a weekly audience at Buckingham Palace, a meeting like no other in British public life.

It is private.

Both parties have an unspoken agreement never to repeat what is said.

Not even to their spouses.

The Audience breaks this contract of silence.

It imagines a series of pivotal meetings between the Downing Street incumbents and their Queen.

From Churchill to Cameron, each prime minister has used these private conversations as a sounding board and a confessional - sometimes intimate, sometimes explosive.

From young mother to grandmother, these private audiences chart the arc of the second Elizabethan Age.

Politicians come and go through the revolving door of electoral politics, while she remains constant, waiting to welcome her next prime minister.

The Audience by Peter Morgan premiered at the Gielgud Theatre, London, in March 2013.

ThemesElizabeth , 1926-Government PR6113.O745 A93 2013

Press Reviews

"What a great if faintly guilty pleasure this play proves…In this marvellous piece, [Morgan] penetrates at least some of [the Queen’s] mystery, with compassion, grace, affection and humour.” —The Telegraph (UK). “The surprise element in Peter Morgan’s highly entertaining play…is its imaginative range, lack of sentimentality and incisive intelligence.” —Whats On Stage. ”Hugely enjoyable and cumulatively very affecting."
— The Independent (UK)