According to Sky News, Dame Helen Mirren stormed out of the Gielgud theatre dressed as the Queen to angrily confront a group of street drummers who she accused of disrupting a performance of The Audience. She stormed out at the end of the first act still dressed in pearls and tiara.
She marched over to a group of around 25 drummers, who were promoting a gay music festival, and allegedly used several expletives as she angrily ticked them off. Dame Helen later admitted using a few "thespian" words, but added that she felt "rotten" afterwards.
She told The Daily Telegraph: "I'm afraid there were a few 'thespian' words used. They got a very stern royal ticking off, but I have to say they were very sweet and they stopped immediately. I felt rotten, but on the other hand they were destroying our performance so something had to be done. The drumming just slowly got louder and louder and then settled right outside the stage door. I was so upset from struggling through the scene with Paul (Ritter) that I literally walked straight off stage, straight up the stairs and straight out the stage door. I banged my way through the crowd who were watching and said 'Stop, you've got to stop right now' - only I might have used stronger language than that. They were very sweet and stopped the minute they knew I wasn't just a batty old woman haranguing them on the streets of Soho on a Saturday night."
She said she now wants to track down the performers to invite them to see the play.
James Horrocks, speaking on behalf of the organisers of the As One In The Park festival which the drummers were advertising, admitted the music was "very loud" but added that "the walls of the theatre were very thin". He told Sky News Dame Helen "turned the air blue" with her language and those who witnessed her rant were "so shocked". However, her offer of tickets to the play was "very sweet", he said.
Rufus Gerrard-Wright, who plays David Cameron in the play, wrote on Twitter "You should have seen Helen. She came out in full Queen costume and shouted at the drummers. Honestly. It was breathtaking."
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