King Lear (McKellen) Chichester / Duke Of York’s

Him getting it out and splashing people is more likely to take place at his pub down river after the show, but thanks for the heads up all the same...😉

Well, poor Sir Ian injured his leg this morning and after a delay of around 30 minutes the matinee today was cancelled. However, clearly in some pain and discomfort, he gamely came on to sit and entertain the audience which he did with some panache for around 80 minutes. Plenty of juicy anecdotes and a bit of audience Q&A thrown in for good measure. Disappointed obviously not to have seen the production but he was entertaining and generous with his time. Will now make sure I don't miss the NT Live screening as I don't think I'll have the opportunity to re-book before 3rd November.

I did ask at the theatre earlier if he’d cancelled because it was too hot and he just thought ‘sod it’ and cancelled but the gentleman at the box office wouldn’t comment 😃

I’m booked for tonight and they told me it’s going ahead but I’ll soon find out

This reminds me

Of when Joyce di donato

Did an opera

In a wheelchair

With a leg in plaster

Amazing

After having to cancel matinee because of injury he expects McKellen to stand there and sign his crap? How rude!!!

Yes, the second act started about 15 minutes late, also no Danny Webb either tonight. It REALLY hasn’t been this plays day today.

Our ‘friend’ in row B was making equally loud huffing noises and lots of ‘wows’ after the play finished, like he’d been scuba diving in the Mariana Trench, or shagging a particularly hefty elephant: he was telling his compadres in the interval that he’d seen many shows at the Duke of York’s, and Lear beats them all: I wasn’t aware that the Teletubbies and In The Night Garden had done shows there...

Oh he's a class act that Sir Ian, isn't he? Many a young 'un nowadays could take note. *cough* Vanessa Kirby *cough*

It's like when Dame Diana Rigg was reportedly, recently, less than pleased when the leading lady of Broadway's My Fair Lady, decided against Sunday matinees, allegedly without the rest of the cast being formally notified. Dame Diana was not amused!

She’s been absent from “Julie” for some time. Take a look at that thread.

So to the actual show itself, I didn't dislike it as much as this review: The Spectator but I wasn't really that impressed: maybe it was a combination of being in a theatre on one of the hottest days of the year, the delay in starting the second act (and the lighting not working correctly during it) and the aforementioned big mouthed nob and his acolytes sat behind me but I was disappointed by this.

I really don't take to productions that needlessly update the settings of a play to make them more modern and 'relevant': I'm assuming this was inspired by the filmed McKellen Richard III but the soldiers in modern day uniform carrying machine guns added nothing whatsoever (the Mexican standoff near the end held no suspense whatsoever). As the denouement of most of the characters takes place off stage at the end,  I really didn't care much about how things ended: although McKellen does do a super corpse (is ithat a spoiler?)


If this is McKellens last Shakespeare then I'm glad I saw it (I saw his Shakespeare on Screen at the BFI a few years back but have never seen him actually play a Shakespearean role until now) but I couldn't honestly recommend this - certainly not at the £145 premium ticket price anyway.