Queen Elizabeth II on stage – in photos

A number of stage veterans have had the privilege of portraying Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on stage over the years.

Most famously perhaps, Helen Mirren’s multi-generational-spanning performance in Peter Morgan’s acclaimed drama The Audience secured her a WhatsOnStage Award, an Olivier and a Tony Award – astonishingly, her first wins on both sides of the Atlantic.

Following the 2013 world premiere at the Gielgud Theatre in the West End, under the direction of Stephen Daldry, the production would cross the pond and open on Broadway at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre just two years later. An audience with Mirren became quite the hot ticket with the show playing to sold-out houses in both London and New York City.

Of course, her Olivier and Tony Awards may well be sitting pretty on the mantelpiece next to her 2007 Oscar, which she took home for another portrayal of the UK’s longest-reigning monarch in The Queen. Morgan also wrote the screenplay for the biopic and has gone on to conquer the world of television thanks to his efforts on Netflix’s The Crown (featuring Claire Foy and Olivia Coleman’s regal incarnations, with Imelda Staunton waiting in the wings for season five, currently scheduled for release this November).

The Audience also made a welcomed return to the West End in 2015, this time at the Apollo Theatre and with none other than Kristin Scott Thomas taking the reigns.

Another play seeing the screen on stage was Handbagged, currently back for a timely run at the Kiln Theatre where it was first seen. The show also transferred to the West End and later to New York.