Ian McKellen in Hamlet at Theatre Royal Windsor
Credit: Dee McCourt
In a catastrophic week for theatre, which saw the curtain come back down on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s £6 million musical, Cinderella, one knight of the realm took to the stage in what felt like an act of defiance against the Government’s inflexible isolation rules – which has led to the scuppering of entire productions.
Sir Ian McKellen, 82, is playing Hamlet – reckless, you might think, but also an act of chutzpah you can only admire. The actor proved extraordinarily lithe, and as he ran up the metal steps in Sean Mathias’s quasi-industrial production, the years seemed to fall away. Did this aged Hamlet work? Physically, yes: McKellen didn’t need the exercise bike or shell-capped trainers to accentuate the portrait of youth.