Dame Helen Mirren is the classy woman we all want to grow up to be. And it turns out she’s not only a great actress and a font of elegance, but a total badass to boot.

Case in point: Over the weekend, the dame was performing at the Gielgud Theatre in London, England, when she was interrupted by the sound of drumming. While Helen was trying to act as Queen Elizabeth II in Peter Morgan’s The Audience — a role for which she recently won an Olivier Award – a troupe of drummers had gathered outside, and were making such a racket that her performance was interrupted.

“The drumming just slowly got louder and louder and then settled right outside the stage door. There was just a thin wall between drumming and the theatre so it was unbelievably loud on stage. Paul Ritter and I could hardly hear each other speak and the audience couldn’t hear us speak at all,” she told the Daily Telegraph.

So, still in her full Queen costume, Dame Helen Mirren marched out of the theater and confronted the group of noisy revelers, who turned out to be there promoting the As One In the Park gay music festival. According to the dame herself, she used some choice words in her chastising of the drummers.

“I’m afraid there were a few ‘thespian’ words used. They got a very stern royal ticking off but I have to say they were very sweet and they stopped immediately,” she said.

There’s no bad blood between Dame Helen and the drummers, however. She told the Telegraph she’d be happy to invite them to come see the play, while a spokesman for As One In the Park told the CBC she’s “more than welcome” to attend the festival.

Festival organizer Mark McKenzie summed up the strange situation perfectly:

“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,” he said.

This is almost as cool as the time she made out with Paul Rudd.