Ian McKellen - Tour 2019

Got a £10 balcony ticket for this, says restricted view but I don't care to be honest at that price as long as I can hear his dulcet tones!

Would the £8 seats (Band E?) not be be seats at all, but standing at the back of the upper levels?  This may be one of those rare occasions when it's preferable to search using "Find Best Available", at least initially, before switching back to "Select Your Seat".  

Plenty of £10 seats (Band D) available in the balcony for later dates, which are bright yellow in colour.

He’s bringing the show to Broadway for one night on November 5th. Does partly explain the gap between 1st-8th November

Matinee performance added for Newcastle.

Going to this tonight and am beyond excited! Is it true that after the performance Ian stands at the door with a collection bucket? Just want to get advance warning so I can get the person I'm going with to take a photo of me having a chat (or more likely stuttering thanks, mouth agape)

Much as the Shakespeare, the Tolkien and the poetry was enjoyable, my favourite moment was definitely the delivery of ‘servicing my Hotpoint’!

I went to the matinee on Sunday, and god was I glad I did! What a fantastic show. Loved every bit of it, from Gandalf right through to hearing all the stories he could think of behind various Shakespeare plays. I'd happily go again - suspect no two performances will be exactly alike.

It being the matinee, I wasn't overly hopeful about stage door but I thought that if I found he had come out I'd be kicking myself. So I went round - probably about a hundred people waiting in the usual laid back Newcastle fashion. He did eventually come to speak to everyone briefly - essentially to say thanks for coming and that he couldn't do signing and pics due to lack of time and needing a lie down! Not one person (that I heard anyway) moaned about it, and everyone basically just said 'Thank you' and left happy that he'd come out at all. I thought it was really kind of him to come and speak to everyone rather than let people wait and gradually drift off - he didn't have to, and if I'd done that show at 80 I'd probably be lying down with a gin in hand within two minutes of being off stage!

I am at this at the Harold Pinter this week. Does anyone who has been have an idea of how long the performance is please?

Thank you- I just needed a rough idea so this is great thanks 🙂

I had an absolutely super night here tonight! For anyone else who needs to know, it finished at 10.20pm tonight.

Saw today’s matinee and what a treat it was. Considering Sir Ian has taken this show all over the place, there was never the slightest hint that he was bored or tired of it. In fact, the opposite is true: he seems to revel being himself - and not someone else - that it brings a youthful, boyish quality to his performance. He talked about how his career was largely down to luck, and honestly, at times he just looked like he was the luckiest boy in the world getting to do what he does.

I preferred act one for its more autobiographical tone, but what a joy to hear him speak the Bard, and watch him switch in and out of performance mode when acting each monologue. Very few can do it, and even out of those that can, to get so lost in the part so effortlessly is a rare talent (one of my favourite videos to revisit on youtube is Judi Dench at the proms performing ‘Send In The Clowns’, where you can literally see her going in and then out of character).

He loves a (justified) name drop, which I think was to emphasis the ‘how lucky have I been?’ aspect, but upon reflection I think it was more a quiet commentary on the fact his generation has become the generation of great British actors... which you know, is absolutely perfectly true.

Which made me wonder who else from our current crop of British Actors will be doing shows like this when they hit 80? Sadly the only name I can come up with is David Tennant or perhaps James McAvoy, which doesn’t fill me with excitement (as talented and committed to the theatre as they are). But who knows?

Anyway, what a wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon, just before the dark nights and umbrella season sets in. I hope this is recorded and released for prosperity: in a lot of ways it felt like an actors version of Elaine Stritch’s ‘At Liberty’, and these kinds of masterclasses should be captured.

Completely enjoyed the performance last Thursday, perfect end to a week in London. He sure knows how to please an audience, starting with Lord of the Rings and including Twankey and Cats alongside Shakespeare...perfect combination.