HAMLET COMES OF AGE!
Sir Ian, 81, to play the Dane
Ian McKellen, the last of the great theatrical knights still performing centre stage, revealed he’s fighting fit and ready to take on the role of Hamlet — 50 years after he first played the youthful Dane.
‘I do Pilates three times a week, and I have a trainer twice a week — all long distance — so I’m fairly fit for the thriller that is Hamlet,’ the 81-year- old said, during an exclusive interview down the line from East London.
McKellen will lead the Theatre Royal Windsor’s summer season company, established by the venue’s owner Bill Kenwright and artistic director Sean Mathias, in Hamlet from June 21 (he’ll be 82 then). By which time social distancing restrictions will hopefully be lifted. (The production was postponed from last summer.)
He will play the Prince of Denmark for ten weeks — and then assume the part of manservant Firs in the company’s second production: Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard. adapted by Martin Sherman, it will run for seven weeks. Francesca annis will play Ranevskaya in that show, after first taking on the part of the Ghost in Hamlet.
The company also includes Jenny Seagrove (who’ll play Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother); Steven Berkoff (Polonius); alis Wyn Davies ( Ophelia) and Emmanuella Cole (Laertes). ‘age, gender and colour blind casting!’ Kenwright and Mathias declared proudly, ticking off the boxes.
THE director urged audiences to ‘see if you can park your conditionings at the door, and go along with it for the whole ride’. He observed that McKellen will play the youngest person in the Shakespeare show — and the oldest in the Chekhov. McKellen said: ‘When a young person plays an old person we don’t know what it’s like — but I DO remember what it’s like to be young!’
There’s fresh topicality, too, thanks to recent royal ructions. ‘Princes don’t have an easy time, do they?’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t push the parallel any further, but it’s just that he’s [Hamlet’s] having to cope with being royal.’
McKellen stressed: ‘I won’t be trying to make myself look young... that’s not the point.’
and he joked that he’s not the ‘first inappropriate person’ to play Hamlet. He watched Michael Redgrave play the part when he was 50. and Dame Judith anderson was 72 when she explored Hamlet at Carnegie Hall in 1971.
To prepare, McKellen has been brushing up on his fencing. Luckily, Emmanuella Cole ‘is a prize fencer — and she’ll be able to give me some tips. I hope’. But even more youthful thespians who’ve tackled the role have said it’s like running a couple of marathons, nightly. and the octogenarian conceded he might end up ‘absolutely exhausted’. He and Mathias have both taken stabs at trimming the text; so the Windsor production will run for a mere two-and-a-half hours, including an interval. (Mathias said he hoped they wouldn’t be set upon by Shakespeare purists for their filleting.) In addition, McKellen will perform his Hamlet six times a week — ‘not the usual eight’. The star, a lion of the theatre and an idol to young audiences, thanks to his work in The Lord Of The Rings and X-Men movies, admitted his mature Hamlet would be ‘a curiosity’. ‘Some people will be interested,’ he said. ‘and some absolutely not. But I hope they’re not put off. They’ll get the words, and be able to understand and relate to them.’ Then he laughed and said it’s an adventure. ‘Keeps you fit, doesn’t it? and how else do you know you’re alive?’
TICKETS on sale today from 11am for TRW members; and on general sale (£25-£75) from 11am tomorrow. contact theatreroyal windsor.co.uk or call 01753 853888.