Helen Mirren was playing England’s reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, in “The Audience‘, at the Gielgud Theatre. Outside someone started drumming drumming drumming nonstop drumming deafening drumming. Mirren focused, raised her voice, projected, as did the other actor in the scene, Paul Ritter. DRUMMING DRUMMING DRUMMING.

The audience was “trying to be entranced,” Ben Scotchbrook wrote. Scotchbrook was among audience members who went outside at intermission, found a group of drummers promoting a festival later in the month for gay and transgender people, “As One in the Park,” and asked them to drum elsewhere. Response? DRUM DRUM DRUM DRUM DRUM.

Mirren stormed out, still clad as the Queen, and told the drummers to shut the fuck up. Whether it was because she embodied the Queen, or because she embodied Dame Helen Mirren, or because they were shocked to silence by her language – they. Stopped. Drumming. Maybe it was because they realized that they had been thoughtlessly interrupting a theatrical performance with THUNDER FROM HELL. And Mirren stormed back into the theater. (No, she was not wearing a tiara. Pearls, though.)

Reaction has been highly favorable – Yes! Crush the drummers! – and Mirren got more praise for her actions afterward.

She announced that she loves drums, loves drummers, loves LGBT people, and loves their festivals. She said she plans to attend “As One in the Park.” She got a [Tshirt] made that says “As One in the Park” on the front with date and location – and on the back has a picture of a drum and “Yes Please! Just not outside a theatre!” And modeled it for the press.

Many sources say she apologized to the drummers. Perez Hilton says she apologized. Contact Music says she apologized. Queerty says she issued an apology to the group. Yahoo Movies (UK) says she apologized and offered them free tickets to the play. But no one has the wording of any such apology.

She did deliver a statement (while wearing the Tshirt), explaining why she was so angry. “I had just spent five, 10 minutes on stage trying to allow the audience to hear what I was saying which was sort of impossible. I was steaming.” she said. “In another situation I would have been out here enjoying it with all the punters. Unfortunately, I was having to do a play at the same time.”

She stressed that the actual Queen of England wouldn’t curse out the drummers – “Her Majesty would never say anything like that.” – but she herself would do it again. “If they make the same noise I would say the same again.”

It’s not clear to me if Mirren really did apologize to the drummers. Several of them came to the theater and apologized to her the next day, and the press wasn’t there, so possibly she said something then.

But possibly people just thought since she was being nice and “conciliatory,” that it counted as an apology, or that she must have apologized. No, the Tshirt is not an apology. It’s a restatement of her position. She was just so nice and good-humored that it seemed like she’d apologized. People! Pay attention!

She’s not sorry, so what would she apologize for? Curse words? She’s not sorry for that either.

I don’t see why she should apologize. That fucking drumming drumming drumming had to stop.