A Regal Role Theresa Gets The Royal Nod

The Actress Is Ready to Dazzle a New Audience

- Amy Prebble

Theresa Healey has graced our screens and stages since the early 1990s. She has played a nurse in Shortland Street, a witch in MacBeth and a millionaire media boss in Abducting Diana. But she has never played a queen.

That is about to change. The actress has been given the nod by British playwright and screenwriter Peter Morgan (the man behind Netflix hit series The Crown) to reign as Queen Elizabeth II in his play The Audience, being staged by Auckland Theatre Company.

For Theresa (55), taking the opportunity to play Her Majesty was a no-brainer. “I read the script and just thought, ‘Oh God, I can’t say no to this,’” she tells. “The words are so beautiful and it really shows you who she is. At this stage of my life, it’s a perfect role to play because I get to go back to when she was 27 and explore that, and I get to go forward to when she’s 86.”

Getting back on stage, where actors enjoy more latitude about the roles they play, is something Theresa is relishing.

“Television boxes you into playing what you look like. What they perceive you to be is all you get. So I’ve been getting all of these cougar-type, slightly crazy women,” she chuckles. “That’s why I love the theatre.”