Ian McKellen on Stage: Tolkien, Shakespeare and You!

Ian McKellen on Stage: Tolkien, Shakespeare and You!

Harold Pinter Theatre

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  • Booking until: Sunday, 5 January 2020
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Ian McKellen on Stage: Tolkien, Shakespeare and You! photos
Ian McKellen on Stage: Tolkien, Shakespeare and You! Ian McKellen on Stage: Tolkien, Shakespeare and You! Ian McKellen on Stage: Tolkien, Shakespeare and You! Ian McKellen on Stage: Tolkien, Shakespeare and You! Ian McKellen on Stage: Tolkien, Shakespeare and You! Ian McKellen on Stage: Tolkien, Shakespeare and You! Ian McKellen on Stage: Tolkien, Shakespeare and You! Ian McKellen on Stage: Tolkien, Shakespeare and You!
Ian McKellen on Stage: Tolkien, Shakespeare and You! description

Ian McKellen On Stage – Celebrating the great man's 80th birthday

Ian McKellen is eighty years old and going strong. He's still on stage, and this time around it's his very own solo show, playing at more than 80 British theatres and raising funds to support regional theatres. This is McKellen's “joyful birthday present to myself” and the very special London stage of the tour is on at the Harold Pinter theatre for a limited season from autumn 2019.

McKellen, one of the nation's best-loved actors, is taking this specially curated show to venues around the country, covering everything from his role as Gandalf to all manner of warmth and wit, wizardry, anecdotes and acting. The result is a show to remember, delivered by a true genius.

A genuinely incredible career informs the production. McKellen has aced everything from Shakespeare to the very finest in Science Fiction and has gathered a monster of a string of awards including six Oliviers, a Tony and a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a BIF, two Saturns, four Drama Desks and a couple of Critics' Choice Awards. And, of course, numerous nominations.

If you adored McKellen as King in Richard III in 1995, as James Whale in Gods and Monsters, as Magneto in the X-Men and, probably the most famously of all, as the wizard Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, this is a proper treat, a very cool way to get to know more about the charming human being behind the roles.

McKellen has been rewarded for his success in many ways, awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1979 and knighted in 1991. He's a Companion of Honour for Services to Drama and Equality in 2008 and a respected voice in the LGBTQ movement. No wonder he was given the Freedom of the City of London in 2014.

Once the current UK tour is complete, McKellen takes his solo show to the West End's Harold Pinter theatre. Make a diary note to book tickets as soon as you can for autumn 2019, since it's on for a strictly limited run.

Let's give McKellen the last word. Here's what Ian himself says about his production:

Live theatre has always been thrilling to me, as an actor and in the audience. Growing up in Lancashire, I was grateful to those companies who toured beyond London and I've always enjoyed repaying that debt by touring up and down the country myself, with the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Prospect Theatre, the Actors' Company, as well as with commercial productions. Sean Mathias, the director and I have worked together for stage and screen, many happy times.”

Starring

Ian McKellen

Playing at Harold Pinter Theatre

6 Panton Street, London, SW1Y 4DN GB (venue info)

Harold Pinter Theatre Directions
Performance Times
Mon - - -
Tue - - 19:30
Wed - - 19:30
Thu - - 19:30
Fri 12:00 - 19:30
Sat - - 19:30
Sun - 15:00 -