Sir Ian McKellen’s return to Hamlet’s career, 50 years after he first took up the post, has been long awaited by spectators as a post-lockout approach. It has now been confirmed that the production, announced last year, will open this summer at the Theater Royal Windsor with a company of actors – including Steven Berkoff, Jenny Seagrove and Francesca Annis – who will then present The Cherry Orchard. Both plays will be directed by Sean Mathias in a season produced by Bill Kenwright.
McKellen, who will be 82 in May, will start previews for Hamlet in June. It has been dubbed the “representation of age, color and gender blindness” and will allow a number of audiences to sit on stage. Shakespeare’s tragedy will be followed in September by Chekhov’s masterpiece, adapted by Martin Sherman and McKellen as Firs, Annis as Ranevskya and Seagrove as Gaev.
Covid-secure exercises for Hamlet began last summer, when McKellen said: “I feel fortunate to be working again, thanks to Bill Kenwright’s inspiring hopes and Sean Mathias’ invitation to review on Hamlet, 50 years on from my first visit. “It would never have occurred to him to play the part again, he said. It is generally thought that” Young Hamlet “, as he is mentioned in the play, is not older. at 30. McKellen said that showing Danish dance now provided a way to “look into what we need to see what we are listening to”.
Performances of Hamlet begin on June 21st. Tickets for the first three weeks will be sold for reduced capacity in the theater as a warning so that the government can provide further guidance and clarification on dates for easing social distance. Concerts from 12 July to 4 October are sold without any social distance instead.
McKellen played Hamlet on a UK and European tour in 1971 with the theater company Prospect. “I didn’t think I was any good,” he said.