Helen Mirren: To play Queen Elizabeth II again in 'The Audience'

Helen Mirren: To play Queen Elizabeth II again in 'The Audience'

Oscar-winning star Helen Mirren is to play Queen Elizabeth II for a second time.

The versatile genius, who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Elizabeth II in The Queen, will revisit the role for a West End stage show.

The Audience will explore The Queen's relationships with some of her 12 prime ministers, depicting their weekly meetings. It is written by Peter Morgan, the man behind the 2006 film.

Stephen Daldry, 'Billy Elliot' director, will direct the production, which is scheduled to open at the Gielgud Theatre on March 5 until June 15.

"From Churchill to Cameron, each prime minister has used these private conversations as a sounding board and a confessional - sometimes intimate, sometimes explosive," a press release said.

"I think it's about what power means and how people handle it," Mirren told the Daily Mail. "Not The Queen, incidentally, because she is comparatively powerless.

"But how power is held in the hands of these men - and one woman - and the effect that has on their personalities and their psyche. In the beginning, the Queen is the young, nervous, unknowledgeable one.

"But as she progresses through them, they become the nervous ones. She's the one constant, through a revolving door of prime ministers."

Peter Morgan, who won a Golden Globe for writing The Queen, has also worked on screenplays for The Last King of Scotland, Frost/Nixon and the upcoming Hugh Hefner biopic Playboy.