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After a night at the theatre with the Queen, I worry about our democracy After a night at the theatre with the Queen, I worry about our democracy
(6 months later)
Who do you love more, those you choose or those whom fate or genes have chosen for you? Usually that's a personal question: who sits closest to your heart, the friends or partner you choose, or the family your DNA picked out for you? Put like that, it's an impossible choice. But framed another way – a more public, more political way – it seems we have an answer. And it's not the one you'd expect.Who do you love more, those you choose or those whom fate or genes have chosen for you? Usually that's a personal question: who sits closest to your heart, the friends or partner you choose, or the family your DNA picked out for you? Put like that, it's an impossible choice. But framed another way – a more public, more political way – it seems we have an answer. And it's not the one you'd expect.
For a clue, book a ticket to The Audience, the play that sees Helen Mirren and writer Peter Morgan return to the character who brought them such success with the Oscar-winning film The Queen. Mirren's back as Her Maj, this time playing opposite not Tony Blair but eight others drawn from what she calls "the Dirty Dozen" who have served as prime minister during her 61-year reign. The play shows snatches of those weekly tete-a-tete encounters, Morgan depicting them as part constitutionally mandated briefing, part confessional, part therapy session. John Major chokes as he remembers the disappointment of his parents at his academic failure; both Gordon Brown and Anthony Eden admit to taking pills to deal with depression and stress. Harold Wilson reveals his early Alzheimer's to the Queen before his own wife.For a clue, book a ticket to The Audience, the play that sees Helen Mirren and writer Peter Morgan return to the character who brought them such success with the Oscar-winning film The Queen. Mirren's back as Her Maj, this time playing opposite not Tony Blair but eight others drawn from what she calls "the Dirty Dozen" who have served as prime minister during her 61-year reign. The play shows snatches of those weekly tete-a-tete encounters, Morgan depicting them as part constitutionally mandated briefing, part confessional, part therapy session. John Major chokes as he remembers the disappointment of his parents at his academic failure; both Gordon Brown and Anthony Eden admit to taking pills to deal with depression and stress. Harold Wilson reveals his early Alzheimer's to the Queen before his own wife.
The play is elegantly told and beautifully acted, Mirren somehow equally convincing as both eager twentysomething and octogenarian prone to nodding off (during a meeting with David Cameron, as it happens). But make no mistake. This is a two-hour exercise in propaganda for Elizabeth Windsor. She is shown as shrewd and uncommonly sage, and not only with the wisdom of experience. Aged 30, she is able to see through Eden's Suez scheme just as, it's implied, she identified the folly of Blair's Iraq adventure nearly half a century later. "The similarities, the parallels, were striking ..." she muses.The play is elegantly told and beautifully acted, Mirren somehow equally convincing as both eager twentysomething and octogenarian prone to nodding off (during a meeting with David Cameron, as it happens). But make no mistake. This is a two-hour exercise in propaganda for Elizabeth Windsor. She is shown as shrewd and uncommonly sage, and not only with the wisdom of experience. Aged 30, she is able to see through Eden's Suez scheme just as, it's implied, she identified the folly of Blair's Iraq adventure nearly half a century later. "The similarities, the parallels, were striking ..." she muses.
She is on the right side of every issue, tactical and moral. The play suggests she advised Brown to go for the early election that never was in 2007 and lobbied Margaret Thatcher to impose sanctions on apartheid South Africa. "You understand ordinary people. Working people," the on-stage Harold Wilson tells her, praising the frugality of her Balmoral study with its three-bar electric heater. A stage play depicting the head of state as constant, modest and preternaturally wise, dedicated selflessly to serving the people – why, you could translate it into Korean, stage it in Pyongyang and no one would turn a hair.She is on the right side of every issue, tactical and moral. The play suggests she advised Brown to go for the early election that never was in 2007 and lobbied Margaret Thatcher to impose sanctions on apartheid South Africa. "You understand ordinary people. Working people," the on-stage Harold Wilson tells her, praising the frugality of her Balmoral study with its three-bar electric heater. A stage play depicting the head of state as constant, modest and preternaturally wise, dedicated selflessly to serving the people – why, you could translate it into Korean, stage it in Pyongyang and no one would turn a hair.
Three centuries ago, Morgan and his players would have staged their work of lavish tribute in the palace itself, rather than the Gielgud. Though of course there is a modern dimension. These days, in which our favoured celebrities are those who have triumphed over adversity, it's not enough that we admire the monarch, we must feel sympathy too. In The King's Speech, that was elicited by showing George VI's overcoming both a stammer and a chilly, violent childhood. Here – and it's this which supplies The Audience's emotional heart – the Queen catches glimpses of her younger self, a free spirit who longs to break out of the gilded cage destiny has in store for her. "It's like being trapped in a museum," the young princess complains. Later her adult self jokes that she's been persuaded to have a mobile phone because security reckon it's "a useful tracking device in case I try to escape".Partly thanks to Mirren's ability to convey a sense of inner longings repressed, we believe this Queen when she sighs at "the unlived lives within us all".Three centuries ago, Morgan and his players would have staged their work of lavish tribute in the palace itself, rather than the Gielgud. Though of course there is a modern dimension. These days, in which our favoured celebrities are those who have triumphed over adversity, it's not enough that we admire the monarch, we must feel sympathy too. In The King's Speech, that was elicited by showing George VI's overcoming both a stammer and a chilly, violent childhood. Here – and it's this which supplies The Audience's emotional heart – the Queen catches glimpses of her younger self, a free spirit who longs to break out of the gilded cage destiny has in store for her. "It's like being trapped in a museum," the young princess complains. Later her adult self jokes that she's been persuaded to have a mobile phone because security reckon it's "a useful tracking device in case I try to escape".Partly thanks to Mirren's ability to convey a sense of inner longings repressed, we believe this Queen when she sighs at "the unlived lives within us all".
Later young Elizabeth reports on a morning tutorial whose subject was British prime ministers. She reads from a notebook: "'Often lonely and unhappy at school, having suffered a trauma in childhood – leaving them haunted by a compulsive and obsessive need for love and power.'" She pauses. "Basically, they're all mad."Later young Elizabeth reports on a morning tutorial whose subject was British prime ministers. She reads from a notebook: "'Often lonely and unhappy at school, having suffered a trauma in childhood – leaving them haunted by a compulsive and obsessive need for love and power.'" She pauses. "Basically, they're all mad."
The older Elizabeth's response is crucial, ending the play. "Those 'mad people' will prove to be your greatest allies," she says. "If you want to know how it is that the monarchy in this country has survived as long as it has – don't look to its monarchs. Look to its prime ministers."The older Elizabeth's response is crucial, ending the play. "Those 'mad people' will prove to be your greatest allies," she says. "If you want to know how it is that the monarchy in this country has survived as long as it has – don't look to its monarchs. Look to its prime ministers."
Now, Morgan might simply be referring to politicians' habit of riding to the rescue whenever the royals get in trouble, as Blair did in that Diana week of 1997. But after two hours of watching a parade of PMs, each needy and dysfunctional in their own way, the moment carries another implication: that the best possible advertisement for the monarchy is one look at the alternative: the grubby, inadequate world of the elected politician.Now, Morgan might simply be referring to politicians' habit of riding to the rescue whenever the royals get in trouble, as Blair did in that Diana week of 1997. But after two hours of watching a parade of PMs, each needy and dysfunctional in their own way, the moment carries another implication: that the best possible advertisement for the monarchy is one look at the alternative: the grubby, inadequate world of the elected politician.
The warmth of the applause for that notion, and for an entire evening of homage to the idea of a perfect Queen keeping a restraining hand on her all-too-imperfect prime ministers, suggests Morgan is not speaking for himself alone. Given a choice, it's clear who both he and his audience prefer: the affection in the room is not for the flawed people we have chosen to send to No 10, but for the woman who reigns in Buckingham Palace by virtue of the blood in her veins (and who need never take an unpopular decision).The warmth of the applause for that notion, and for an entire evening of homage to the idea of a perfect Queen keeping a restraining hand on her all-too-imperfect prime ministers, suggests Morgan is not speaking for himself alone. Given a choice, it's clear who both he and his audience prefer: the affection in the room is not for the flawed people we have chosen to send to No 10, but for the woman who reigns in Buckingham Palace by virtue of the blood in her veins (and who need never take an unpopular decision).
Part of this is a very specific attachment to the Queen herself. Her sheer length of service, the continuity over six decades and the direct link it represents with the episode that now forms the creation myth of modern Britain – our wartime defiance of the Nazis – means she exerts a powerful, almost mystical hold on this country's imagination. When she passes, Britain will feel it has ruptured the last bond with its earlier self.Part of this is a very specific attachment to the Queen herself. Her sheer length of service, the continuity over six decades and the direct link it represents with the episode that now forms the creation myth of modern Britain – our wartime defiance of the Nazis – means she exerts a powerful, almost mystical hold on this country's imagination. When she passes, Britain will feel it has ruptured the last bond with its earlier self.
Yet this preference for the non-democratic is not confined to us. Look at the warmth for Pope Francis, building already into something like love with every new revelation of his modesty: the latest tells of his personally calling his newsagent in Buenos Aires to let him know he was moving to the Vatican and so would have to cancel his paper order. How many of the world's Catholics would prefer leaders they voted for over this man they didn't?Yet this preference for the non-democratic is not confined to us. Look at the warmth for Pope Francis, building already into something like love with every new revelation of his modesty: the latest tells of his personally calling his newsagent in Buenos Aires to let him know he was moving to the Vatican and so would have to cancel his paper order. How many of the world's Catholics would prefer leaders they voted for over this man they didn't?
When applied to benign, elderly figures such as the Queen or Francis, this hardly seems threatening. But people are getting frustrated with those they elect, whether here, in Cyprus or beyond. The Telegraph's Peter Oborne ended a post-budget column with these words: "So we are entering a momentous period in our national life: if the politicians cannot address the problem – and they can't – who will?" That impulse, like my night in the theatre, troubles me. We like to boast how committed we are to democracy. But there are days when that commitment looks terribly fragile.When applied to benign, elderly figures such as the Queen or Francis, this hardly seems threatening. But people are getting frustrated with those they elect, whether here, in Cyprus or beyond. The Telegraph's Peter Oborne ended a post-budget column with these words: "So we are entering a momentous period in our national life: if the politicians cannot address the problem – and they can't – who will?" That impulse, like my night in the theatre, troubles me. We like to boast how committed we are to democracy. But there are days when that commitment looks terribly fragile.
Twitter: @j_freedland Twitter: @j_freedland
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