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Queen Elizabeth II, played by Sheryl Faye, pays a visit to Swampscott Senior Center on Wednesday. (Spenser Hasak)

Queen Elizabeth takes afternoon tea in Swampscott

Erin Hickey

by

SWAMPSCOTT — For one afternoon, the Swampscott Senior Center took on a regal feel, with fully dressed tables and teacups set out for a one-woman performance that brought the life of Queen Elizabeth II into the room. 

The program, held on Wednesday with support from the Friends of the Senior Center and the Swampscott Cultural Council, combined live acting, recorded video, and live staging to follow the Queen’s life from childhood through her decades on the throne. 

Actress Sheryl Faye moved through the timeline with costume changes, wigs, and props, shifting from a young princess who “wasn’t meant to be queen” to a monarch defined by a sense of duty. That sense of obligation to her regal responsibilities was repeated throughout the performance as the show moved between major historical moments and quieter, more personal ones. 

Scenes from World War II, the coronation, and the day-to-day routines of royal life were woven together with moments of humor that kept the room loose. The full audience remained engaged with Faye’s performance throughout, evidenced by fits of laughter during stories of the Queen’s trip to Fiji and an undercover excursion to a local supermarket. 

Stories about her well-known love for Pembroke Welsh Corgis landed similarly, with Faye leaning into the details of naming and raising generations of dogs, giving the audience a glimpse of a more relaxed, private side of the queen. 

Those lighter moments gave way to quieter stretches, particularly when the performance turned to the death of her father and the moment she learned she would take the throne at 25. The room went heavy again later during the section on Princess Diana, as the performance reflected on the public grief that followed and the pressure on the monarchy to respond. 

“Grief is the price one pays for love,” the queen said at one point — a line historically based on Elizabeth’s remarks following the September 11 attacks. 

The performance closed with the queen’s golden jubilee — a celebration of 50 years on the throne — as she reflected on a lifetime shaped by that promise.

“I have done my best to carry on the traditions of the past, while keeping the monarchy in the hearts of the British people,” she said.

For Karen Fletcher, a retired nurse, that sense of duty is part of what stands out. Fletcher said she had seen the performance before but returned this week because she enjoyed it enough to see it again.

A longtime fan of Queen Elizabeth, Fletcher said she has long been drawn to the way the queen balanced responsibility and public life, and that sense of duty that carried throughout the performance.

“I was a single mother,” Fletcher said. “So I always think about how she managed everything she had to do.”

“I remember all of those milestones,” she added, saying that she remembered watching the Queen’s coronation on a black-and-white television screen. “Seeing it like that, all put together, it just makes it more interesting.”

Fletcher also said she thought the performance brought those larger moments back down to a human level. 

“I love history, so I found it fascinating,” she said. “It’s different when you see someone bring it to life like that. It just feels more personal.” 

The event was part of a broader effort to bring cultural programming to the Senior Center, something organizers say depends heavily on local funding.

“I just really want people to know the Swampscott Cultural Council made this all available,” said Sonja Nathan, the senior center’s program and volunteer manager. “And I’m so grateful because this performance … it was just extraordinary.” 

By the end of the afternoon, the mix of storytelling and setting — tea, conversation, and a familiar local space — had done what the performance set out to do: make a figure often seen at a distance feel, briefly, closer to home.

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