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I think they have made an error in leaving Blair out though.
Don't agree with you there. The Blair story was very focussed on in the film, so his absence here didn't matter too much. And to call it safe, middle class theatre, MrBarnaby, well I'm not sure why you would expect it to be otherwise? It's a redundant criticism of a play like this.
Yes, it's a little pat in places and yes it's a little clunky in others, but it is only the third preview, they have another 16 to go, with rewrites and restaging ideas going in all the time. Those are minor quibbles to me in what was an absolutely joyous evening of theatre. Helen Mirren is absolutely sensational and must be knackered by the end of the performance! Barely offstage throughout, and when she is she's hurtling around for another quick change before dashing back on. she delivers an absolute tour de force performance, utterly convincing in all incarnations of the Queen. I really enjoyed myself, I laughed a LOT. The main set is lovely too, though there are still changes to be made there I understand. It'll be interesting to see what the critics make of it.
For anyone doing day seats, the front row is FANTASTIC. Nice low stage and enough of a distance to mean absolutely no neck craning is required. I was right in the middle and a couple of times, Mirren comes right to the front and was dauntingly close! Well worth the seemingly endless hours of queuing in the cold on Saturday morning.
