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Delighted theatregoers were treated to an impromptu afternoon with Ian McKellen after Saturday’s performance of King Lear had to be cancelled.
The 79-year-old actor injured himself running to catch a train, but rather than sending audiences home from the Duke of York’s theatre matinee, he did a 90 minute Q&A instead.
Audience members took to social media to praise McKellen for giving them the “experience of a lifetime”.
He talked about his role as Gandalf in Lord of the Rings, telling behind the scenes stories about his time on set, and meeting Maggie Smith and Laurence Olivier as a young actor. He also revealed that, at the previous night’s performance as the mad King, he “forgot to tell the audience and company that I was dividing up the kingdom”.
Speaking about his future acting dreams, he said he’d love to play “on old Mercutio” and even acted out a scene from Henry IV Part II as if Patrick Stewart were there with him.
After the Q&A, McKellen invited the rest of the cast onto the stage for a curtain call, later going on to perform in the evening’s show.
He later apologised to the audience on Twitter, saying he “just couldn’t have managed kneeling in the rain-storm nor risked carrying Cordelia’s corpse on my back”.
King Lear runs at the Duke of York’s Theatre until November 3.