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Sir Ian McKellen has watched his understudy perform in the final matinee of Player Kings, the play he was starring in before he sustained wrist and neck injuries in a dramatic fall while performing in the show.
The Lord of the Rings actor, 85, had been playing the William Shakespeare character Sir John Falstaff in the production. On 17 June, after he lost his footing during a fight scene and fell from the stage, landing on an audience member, he announced that he had pulled out of the remainder of the show’s run.
McKellen said in a statement that his exit was decided with the “greatest reluctance” due to doctor’s advice.
Despite his disappointment, McKellen went to watch the final performance ofPlayer Kings, a version of the Henry IV part one and two plays, in Newcastle on Saturday (27 June).
Sharing a headshot of himself on Instagram, he wrote in the caption: “On the day of the 101st and final performance of Player Kings – without me – I celebrated by removing Falstaff’s hair, which has been growing for nine months.
“I will be in the audience for the matinee in Newcastle,” he said.
His understudy, David Semark, stepped in to finish the run in the West End, and continued to play the role during the national tour, including at Newcastle’s Theatre Royal.
McKellen reassured fans earlier this month that his doctors promised he will make a “complete recovery” if he avoids working for the next few weeks.
He assured audience members that Icke’s “masterful production remains intact”, despite his absence, and that he is “on the mend”.
“Any actor will say that missing a performance feels somewhat shameful, even when he is not to blame,” he said. “None of us ever wants to let down our audience.”
McKellen has played several Shakespearean characters over the years, including Richard II, Macbeth, Coriolanus and King Lear.
The actor was not the only person hospitalised as a result of the incident at the Noel Coward Theatre last month – an audience member called Johanna was hospitalised for the night.
“Getting crushed by Gandalf the Grey, that’s something you don’t expect,” Johanna, 30, who asked for her surname not to be disclosed, told the BBC.
She said she had her legs crossed when McKellen tripped on a prop and “flew head first” into her and collided with her knee “quite hard”.
Johanna recalled how McKellen had screamed out in pain, which sent her “into shock”.
“I want to thank everyone for their kind messages and support,” the actor said via his publicist, Clair Dobbs, on X/Twitter on Tuesday (18 June).
“Since the accident, during a performance of Player Kings last night, my injuries have been diagnosed and treated by a series of experts, specialists and nurses working for the National Health Service.
“To them, of course, I am hugely indebted.”
