Ian McKellen spent over sixty years owning the theatre. His presence, precision and confidence made him a legend, yet, as it turned out, just one moment behind the scenes could turn it all upside down. During a live show, as McKellen revealed, he lost his balance and fell off the stage, landing directly into the audience and leaving him shaken, injured and haunted by what he calls “a feeling of terror!”
Ian McKellen’s sudden fall mid-performance: What happened?
According to People, it happened during a performance of “Player Kings,” an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Henry IV, in London’s West End, on June 17, 2024.
McKellen, who was 85 at the time, was playing Sir John Falstaff, one of Shakespeare’s most famous characters. In the middle of a fight scene, he stepped forward and suddenly slid over the edge, crashing into the lap of an audience member.The theater went from excitement to chaos in seconds.“When I fell off the stage into the lap of an unlucky audience member, I told the entire audience: ‘I’m not doing this,’” McKellen, 86, told the Los Angeles Times.
“In the sense that I am an actor who controls what he does.”But this time, he couldn’t stop what was happening.Someone left a piece of newspaper on the stage, and that’s all it took. It sent him over the edge. The house lights came up, the staff scrambled, and the show was immediately canceled as the theater emptied. Later, doctors discovered a broken wrist and a neck injury. He spent three nights in hospital and missed the remainder of the play’s London run, also withdrawing from the tour on doctors’ orders.
At the time, things seemed much worse. Lying on the stage, he admits that he thought this was the end. “When they put me on stage, I said: ‘I’m dying’. And I thought I was. I was out of control. Things were happening, and I couldn’t stop them. What’s left now is this feeling of terror. I don’t want to feel out of control again.” Even when talking about it now, he finds it difficult: “I don’t really like to talk about it because it was a very traumatic act.
“However, working on a movie set just got a little easier. He added, “I was able to return to the land of the X-Men and destroy New Jersey effortlessly. I was able to do all the filming. But the theater…”McKellen has made a small comeback with a couple of charity shows and would love to hear the audience laugh again, but he’s yet to make the jump to full touring.He said: “I loved being in front of an audience again. I laughed all my heart out. So I’m fine. But I haven’t been in a play yet.”
LAT reported that he might return to the stage in a production in London, where he lives, but McKellen quipped: “We’re still trying to find him.”
Who is Ian McKellen?
For anyone who has missed the past six decades, Ian McKellen is a fascinating figure in the world of theater and film. He’s the great, old, wise Gandalf in “The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit,” Magneto in “X-Men,” and he’s taken on countless Shakespearean threads: from “Macbeth” to “King Lear.” He brought home Tony, Olivier, and Oscar nominations along the way. Off stage and screen, he has also been a force for LGBTQ+ rights, shaping culture in Britain and beyond.
