Ben Apfelbaum

THE CROWN

This is apparently the most expensive cable television series ever produced. If you loved The Queen and the live screening of the National Theatre’s production of The Audience also starring Helen Mirren as the Queen, you will adore this series as they were all written by Peter Morgan.

This lavish Netflix original drama chronicles the life of Queen Elizabeth 11 from the 1940s to 1956 in this first series of ten episodes. The second series is currently being produced but subsequent series will have new sets of actors as the Queen and Prince Phillip age.

The series begins with an inside look at the early reign of the Queen who ascended the throne when she was 25.

Claire Foy is wonderful as the Queen as she develops from an ingenue who adored her father, played by Jared Harris, to a determined and principal ruler who must navigate the treacherous shoals of political intrigues, courtiers, gossip and the English church.

I was not so convinced by Matt Smith who plays Prince Phillip as I found him too loose limbed as the Prince who always conveyed the stiff posture of a Naval officer.  What is amazing  is the revelation of the poor relationship Elizabeth had at the start of their marriage.

The series is dominated by the relationship of the young and unsure Queen with her Prime Minister Winston Churchill. John Lithgow appears to be having a ball as Winston Churchill as he wraps his lips around Churchill’s sonorous vocabulary.

Special mention should be made of Alex Jennings (recently seen here as Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady) who plays the deposed King Edward VII with a mixture of malice, bitterness and sympathy.

The attention to detail is Downton Abbey like and for those of a certain age like me will enjoy the nostalgia that this series engenders.

I can’t wait for the second series.

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.