Helen Mirren: 'The Queen' Actress Storms Off Stage to Scream Swears at Loud London Street Drummers

During her performance of The Audience over the weekend, Helen Mirren left the stage and walked out of London's Gielgud Theatre and yelled at some noisy street performers. This noisy interruption was actually a performance to promote the "As One in the Park" festival for gay and transgender people, which is due to take place later this month. Unfortunately they were too loud and interrupted the play, so Mirren, dressed as Queen Elizabeth II, used some pretty harsh language to quiet them down.

A statement from the festivals organizers said: "Clearly angered, she shrieked 'Quiet! I'm trying to do a play in here! People have paid a lot of money for tickets'."

Mark McKenzie, who organized the drumming parade, said, "Not much shocks you on the gay scene. But seeing Helen Mirren dressed as the Queen cussing and swearing and making you stop your parade - that's a new one."

"I'm afraid there were a few 'thespian' words used," Mirren said, according to The Telegraph. "They got a very stern royal ticking off, but I have to say they were very sweet and they stopped immediately."

She continued: "I was so upset from struggling through [a] scene...that I literally walked straight off stage, straight up the stairs and straight out the stage door and 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. I felt rotten, but on the other hand they were destroying our performance so something had to be done."

Mirren was joined outside in the shushing by co-star Rufus Wright who later tweeted: "You should have seen Helen. Honestly. It was breathtaking."

Mirren is clearly remorseful about yelling at the drummers, and has since invited them to come see the play.

Before the night was over, the play experienced some technical difficulties when the lights went out. Helen Mirren told the audience, "We seem to be having a bit of a bad night."