I am so couth....thank you, National Theatre (& the Metropolitan Opera)

Thursday afternoon I experienced Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II in "The Audience" presented on High Definition internet transmission to movie theaters throughout the world.  It was actually being performed at the Gielgud Theatre in London as part of the National Theatre's productions following the example of the Metropolitan Opera's HD operas.

What a deal!  Helen Mirren recently won an Olivier for her performance in "The Audience".  She and Meryl Streep have to be the world's best actresses (this considering that I absolutely love Susan Surandon).

You must do anything you can to see this performance.  The theatricality was absolutely marvelous.  Mirren was on stage all or almost all of the production.  She managed to disappear left or right when it was necessary to perform a costume change--which she seemed to do invisibly.  She wore 5 wigs (I think), but I never saw her changing them.  One of the theatrically difficult aspects of the production was that it wasn't performed historically, i.e., in sequence.  So Mirren was a young Elizabeth, then an old Elizabeth, a middle-aged Elizabeth, etc.  Amazing acting performance since it wasn't done sequentially.  But done flawlessly.

I want to see this again to pay more attention to the costume changes.  And I'm off to the library to read up on the British prime ministers who appear here.  Not Thatcher, Blair or Churchill, but Wilson, Eden and Heath.  So many questions were posed by the dialog.  I'm sure British historians (or Brits) understood the references, but I didn't.

On another topic, I have started posting photographs of the rugs and wallhangings that Needle Nicely has put on sale.  Most of the canvases are 40% off the original price.  I will be happy to discuss any of them.  All sales will be final.   Please keep checking back --I have about 60 photographs to post.  Enjoy!

And I apologize, but I cannot get that first Sale Rugs icon to delete.  Sigh!  Blogger tends to keep one very humble.