Helen Mirren has revealed she fully supported the National Theatre's decision to transmit a performance of Phedre, in which she played the title role.

Speaking to the Telegraph in California, where she has a second home, the Oscar-winning actress said that although theatre on the screen “never looks very good”,  the production was filmed very well and the company received “an amazing reaction absolutely incredible, and it really surprised us… We got a spectacular response from all over, with people saying it was like being in the theatre. It was incredible. ”

Mirren was talking about the National's staging of Racine's 17th-century French tragedy Phedre (pictured above), in a translation by Ted Hughes, which was beamed live to cinemas around the world.

We got a spectacular response from all over, with people saying it was like being in the theatre. It was incredible

“The magical thing about it is that you can bring live theatre—well, it's not live but it's kind of a live theatre experience—to people all over the world who can't possibly have an opportunity to fly to London to see it in the theatre, so it was a great, great success.”

However, Mirren said that she didn't believe the process of broadcasting theatre onto the screen would continue into the future generally. “The whole point of theatre is that it's live,” she said. “It will never replace film and it will never replace live theatre—it's something in between.”

Mirren confirmed that she likes to get back on the stage “every three or four years” which takes a lot of nerve.

To read the full published article visit the Telegraph website