Director Stephen Daldry has revealed that his first project after the Olympics will be to direct Dame Helen Mirren in the West End.
Mirren, 67, will play the Queen again in The Audience, which will recreate the weekly meetings the monarch has held with successive prime ministers over the last 60 years.
The play is by Peter Morgan, who wrote the screenplay for 2006 movie The Queen, which also starred Mirren.
Daldry, who was the creative director of all the ceremonies at the Games, described his role as a “fantastic and astonishing journey”. He said: “It was the most satisfying thing I’ve ever done in my life. We were all so thrilled that it went down so well.”
The monarch’s meetings with the prime minister have always remained secret, with both parties having an unspoken agreement never to repeat what is said — even to their spouses.
Mirren will play the Queen from the age of 25, when she met Winston Churchill, until her meetings with David Cameron.
Daldry said: “The play is a series of imaginings of her meetings with 12 prime ministers. Peter being Peter, he has done an extraordinary amount of research and spoken to people who have tried to ascertain what was likely said in these conversations. It’s fascinating and unique subject matter.
“It’s hard to know at this stage of the game whether it will ruffle any feathers. I imagine a lot of the information anyone could have found out with research.
“Peter is one of the country’s wittiest writers and he has produced something that is enormously enjoyable and very funny and moving.”
Daldry revealed that Mirren, who won an Oscar and Bafta for The Queen, had accepted the role “in an instant”.
“It’s testament to Peter’s script that she wants to reprise a role she is very well known and celebrated for,” he said. “It’s an astonishing journey from when she was only 25 years old to the Elizabeth she is today.”
Tickets go on sale today, with previews at the Gielgud Theatre from February 15.
