“We were prepared for anything,” says Bailey, who plays the older version of the two Queen Elizabeth (reprising her role from the original 2013 production). On stage, they observed a minute’s silence and director Indhu Rubasingham gave a speech. “But the public seemed to be ready for it right away,” says Bailey. “They wanted to laugh. They wanted, on some level, to celebrate the queen.” “People are really on your side and really want to see her and connect with her,” says Abigail Cruttenden, who plays the younger Queen. There is new resonance in her lines, many drawn from real life, “and you know it for the audience.” The audience seemed to be ready for it immediately – they wanted to laugh and celebrate QueenMarion Bailey Moira Buffini’s play imagines the conversations between the Queen and Thatcher. Despite the superficial similarities – their age, the hair, the bags, both female leaders in a man’s world – here they are poles apart. It is a sign of the Queen’s political ineptitude that it does not feel too far-fetched that Buffini imagines her as something of a socialist, or at least that her values contrast wildly with Thatcher’s. “Although she has been teased lightly and gently,” says Bailey, “[in the play] the Queen is a good thing, compared to Thatcher. She is the one who represents decency and caring for society. If he was an unsympathetic character, it would have been harder for him to do that.” Both actors have played royalty before – Bailey was the Queen Mother in the TV series The Crown and Cruttenden played Elizabeth I in the play Swive [Elizabeth] – but neither compares to the ubiquity of the late queen. To prepare, they both watched many documentaries and footage of her. Getting the voice right was key, says Cruttenden. “I knew her very well [love of] riding and walking,” he says. The monarch’s lifelong riding in particular – she was reported to be riding only a few months ago – “affects the way you stand”. Both actors have a new appreciation for the Queen’s stamina. “My hand hurts from holding the bag,” Cruttenden says with a laugh. “Not to mention the legs,” says Bailey. “And that’s doing one game a day,” adds Cruttenden. Members of the Household Cavalry make their way along the Mall in London in front of the coffin carrying Queen Elizabeth II. Photo: WPA/Getty Images Hand bag, Cruttenden thinks, reveals the Queen’s sense of humour. The older queen, says Bailey, “allows herself to be slightly more cheeky in the play. I think he was trying to follow a protocol that he felt he could let go of as he got older. I’m the one stealing and pulling faces in the background while young Liz tries to have a serious conversation with young Thatcher.’ My hand hurts from holding the bag! Abigail Cruttenden What Cruttenden has noticed watching the Queen over the years, he says, slipping into the present tense, “that sets her apart from another generally elegant person is that she doesn’t talk to anyone, ever. He doesn’t patronize. Listening really, really personally, [when] it would be easy not to be.’ The queen gave her own performance, says Bailey, “that she had to give, in her view, to society – what she felt was her role and her destiny. It’s a pretty generous way to live your life in a sense, selflessly. It’s not like he could ever wake up one morning and think “right, this is it.” Just get on with it.” Is Her Majesty a socialist, Thatcher wonders. “That’s the gag,” Bailey says. “Of course she wasn’t a socialist, but she certainly believed that society was an entity and that she symbolized that society.” Try to be unifying. Thatcher was divisive. “For me, he was of a post-war generation that had a sense of duty and believed in certain values. He had come out of the war at a time when a national health service was emerging, there was state broadcasting, there was the welfare state. There are many of them in the project. Then along came Thatcher in the 80’s and she started to strip it all away. It must have been very distressing.” She pauses. “I say ‘I must have’ – that’s in my imagination.” It feels appropriate to play the play now, he adds, “when those values are undermined and left in the dustbin, it feels.” The day after the Queen’s death, they were rehearsing and both actors broke out during a speech. They say the emotion took them by surprise. Cruttenden was happy to “push it into rehearsal”, knowing that on stage, it would be fine. Bailey countered this by channeling the Queen herself. “I thought to myself, look, he would have made it.”
