Dame Helen Mirren’s ‘theatre paranoia’

Dame Helen Mirren admits she approaches theatre performances with a sense of “paranoia”.

The 69-year-old English actress is portraying Queen Elizabeth II in forthcoming Broadway play, The Audience.

And Helen constantly experiences nerves before performing live in a stage production.

“Talking right now I’m even having paranoia in terms of saving my voice. Doing theatre you depend on it, and I’m onstage nonstop two hours,” she told Page Six.

Helen has been married to American film director Taylor Hackford since 1997.

Although she is very familiar with United States culture, Helen noted production for The Audience had to be altered a bit in order to appeal to American theatregoers.

“We’ve made some subtle changes from the British version. Small trims and adjustments. Nothing spectacular. There’s a change at the end of Act 1. But we haven’t made many concessions,” she shared.

“Oddly, despite common language, married to an American all these years I’m aware of subtle differences between our countries. The other day I said something, and my husband, Taylor, said, ‘What does that mean'’ So, a British play about British people, there are a few references Americans mightn’t get.

“Doing previews here we can see that, but it’s all verbal, light, not heavy, and a universal wit is employed. People understand one another’s nature. Even if you didn’t know Prime Minister Gordon Brown, what’s threaded through is history.”

The Academy Award-winning actress has a lot on her plate this year. Her play The Audience runs on Broadway at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre from March 8 to June 28. Her forthcoming picture Woman in Gold, in which she portrays a Jewish refugee who fights for artwork stolen from her family during World War II, is due for release in April.