Many 80 years olds choose
to celebrate their landmark birthday with a quiet dinner with friends and
family and only royalty would undertake a national tour of the cities and towns
of the UK. Of course, Sir Ian Mckellen is theatrical royalty and therefore it
seems completely appropriate, if a little ambitious, to perform in 80 different
venues across the length and breadth of the country in a Royal progress to mark
his momentous year and amazing career.
We caught him in the 10th
outing at the intimate Arts Theatre in the heart of London's West End and
before he starts venturing further afield over the coming months .It is a
performance of two halves , in the first he shares his early development as a
young boy in Wigan , his first theatre visits to the three theatres in Bolton
and on to his days in Cambridge doing 21 plays in three years with many
illustrious fellow thespians starting out their careers. In the second he
delivers a Shakespearean memory test calling on the audience to shout out the
names of all the plays and then sharing memories or thoughts on each and of
course delivering as only he can some of the best-known speeches.
There are many delightful
highlights in the course of the one-hundred-and-fifty-minute show, much shorter
than his recent magnificent performance in King Lear just around the corner at
the Duke of York! We know he has remarkable stamina for his age, a wonderful
clear distinctive voice and a relaxed stage presence but his comic timing and
small insights into his life and views are the real revelation of the evening.
When he reminisces about
his role as Gandalf in the Lord of the ring films, you can see he relishes the
fame and fortune they gave him but also the sparkle in his eyes as he recalls
playing opposite Orlando Bloom. When he sits in a Director's chair and reads
from his old school book you can imagine the ambition in the young boy already
in love with the Theatre. He talks of his love of the wonderful Frank Matcham
designed theatres he used to visit in Bolton, the Theatre Royal and Grand and
you can see how they inspired him to perform. And when he mentions the great actors,
he has known you can feel his sorrow for those no longer with us like the
recently passed Albert Finney.
He talks about coming out,
of being the second openly gay man to be knighted, his sixties boyfriend Brian,
the fight against Section28 and acting in the highly charged play Bent about
the treatment of Jews and Gays by the third Reich. It is a powerful and
emotional theme that now sits easily on a West End stage in a way it could not
have done before his time.
He starts the second half
with All the worlds a stage and the seven ages of man and then joyfully runs
through the 37 plays Shakespeare wrote before settling at the end for a piece
from Sir Thomas More , which contains a three page revision attributed to the
bard which he played in 1964 at Nottingham Playhouse , claiming that he is the
last actor to debut as Shakespeare part! However, the piece about Strangers
also reveals his strong political feelings as it easily translates to the Trump
Brexit world of today.
He is a natural stage presence,
an engaging performer and one of the best speakers of Shakespeare lines and
this Royal progression is worth catching if tickets become available if for no
other reason to hail, Long live the King.