Player Kings - Wimbledon / MCR / Noel Coward / Tour

My concern is for his welfare not for what exactly happened.

Falls in your 80s can be very nasty.

Just heard about this. Hope he recovers well. I’m sure he’s in the best hands.

That's v reassuring

Wednesday performance sold out and has just been cancelled to give Sir Ian more time to recover. Remaining performances ticket prices now between £140 & £230…

Just a question - there is an understudy available, so why is he not being used?

Is it because they anticipate to get a barrage of complaints that in this particular case people paid to see the actor and not the show?

This is a very good question, and I have a few thoughts:

So the general "line" used in the UK theatre industry is that you pay to see the show, not the actor, and "the appearance of a particular artist cannot be guaranteed" etc. I suppose in the case of a major MAJOR star such as McKellen or, just down the road, Tom Holland, that rule is changed somewhat at the discretion of the producer because basically every person in the audience is there for that particular actor.

So why is there an understudy? Well, possibly it's an insurance requirement? A union policy? I don't know, but there may be some of that sort of thing involved. 

However, this could have gone a different way: This situation was unusual in that McKellen fell OFF the stage into the auditorium, creating a medical emergency (he is 85 after all) in the auditorium of the theatre, much harder to deal with and necessitating the near immediate removal of the audience.
Had his injury/fall occurred ON the stage, things would probably have been slightly different. It's possible that the safety curtain would have been lowered, McKellen would have been removed as carefully as possible for treatment, depending on the injury, and the understudy would have replaced him following an announcement by the company management or producer or whoever.

Just my thoughts.

Well, there you go then.

And I'd say that possibly, if say for argument's sake McKellen felt ill and decided at the interval he couldn't continue a performance, the understudy might replace him in that particular circumstance for the rest of the show.

Agreed. I'd say most people who came to see a big name would not kick up a fuss about an understudy coming on midway through a play to allow the show to finish. Depending on the nature of the fandom and the incident the mood of the audience may be dominated by concern for the actor.

However, if you booked to see a name so you can say you've seen a name, then seeing them for the first part of a performance on the night they took ill makes for a better anecdote. 

I'm guessing the decision to cancel full performances rather than use an understudy will be down to the type of insurance they took out. 

I’m surprised the theatre are doing this. I had a ticket to see it in half term and my husband was taken ill at short notice, so I couldn’t go as I couldn’t get a babysitter. Called the theatre two hours before the performance and they were unable/unwilling to offer me a seat for another performance. It was annoying as the show isn’t sold out and my ticket was £90. It felt a bit money-grabbing so at least they are treating people better in this instance

Lol someone's after some compensation and/or attention. Classic Daily Mail style sad face.