The 85-year-old actor was playing John Falstaff in Player Kings when he fell
Ian McKellen is expected to make a “speedy” recovery after suffering a fall onstage Monday evening at Noël Coward theatre in London.
“Thank you to our audience and the general public for their well wishes following Ian’s fall during this evening’s performance of Player Kings,” a rep for McKellen said in a statement to Rolling Stone. “Following a scan, the brilliant NHS team have assured us that he will make a speedy and full recovery and Ian is in good spirits.”
“Thank you to doctors Rachel and Lee who were on hand in the audience and to all the venue staff for their support,” the statement added.
The actor was performing in a production of Player Kings when the 85-year-old fell during a fighting scene, the BBC first reported. According to those at the venue at the time of the incident, the house lights turned on and folks could hear him cry for help. The show was canceled and production was canceled for the following day. McKellen plays John Falstaff in the show, which merges Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Parts One and Two.
“I really hope that he is going to be alright,” one attendee who witnessed the fall told the BBC. “As far as I saw, he was conscious because he was asking for assistance.”
McKellen has starred in several other Shakesperean plays and will appear in a Sean Mathias in a film adaptation of Hamlet. Among his credits are Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit series. He’s also appeared as Magneto in X-Men and starred in Da Vinci Code and Beauty and the Beast.
McKellen made headlines in 2020 when he became one of the first people to receive the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine in the U.K.
