Ian McKellen: Acting Shakespeare

I just saw this it's just fantastic - a crime that it is not published. McKellen performs a wide range of characters (old, young, male, female) amazingly. He does a ten minute medley from Romeo and Juliet playing both parts, a scene between Hamlet, Polonious and the Player King, and a speech from the soon to be Richard the Third from Henry VI part III that makes your jaw drop.

This is nothing less than amazing

I saw this on television many years ago and taped it but my copy is very bad. I've been hoping that it would be made available on VHS or DVD. It was my introduction to Ian McKellan. After it appeared on television it came to the National theater here in Washington, DC and I rushed for tickets. It's simply fabulous. So entertaining and educational (shhhh you don't have to tell anyone that) I cannot remember all the plays or speeches he gives in this production but it certainly is enough to give you a flavor of not only the play but how it sounded as the language and acting styles have changed over the years. It's very amusing to hear the acting style from the late 1800's for instance. And the language has changed so much since the 1600's it almost unrecognizable as English. This is one production that deserves to be offered on VHS or DVD.

In 1982 Long before his incredible performances as Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings, I discovered Royal Shakespeare Company member, Ian Mckellan on PBS in a little show called Acting Shakespeare. Entering a bare stage, in everyday clothing he delivered Jacques "all the worlds a stage speech from as you like it with all consummate skill and seriousness finished the soliloquy, and then confided he never much liked that particular comedy because it doesn't have enough jokes and the really good speech by Jacques is over used by people like himself to open their one man shows. From there Mckellan with impish wit and humor proceeded to discourse on the plays, his own relationship with the theater and speculates on how the young boy from Stratford found the theater and his calling as a writer. The show was great was story telling and an instructional guide to actors. The show was a comedy routine interwoven with some of the most compelling acting I'd seen in my young life. (Imagine a forty-ish Mckellan performing Juliet with out costume and pulling it off) Unfortunately, this show does not seem to have been released to video. Here's hoping that with the Mckellan's current surge in popularity, someone will unearth this gem and show the current generation, how much more there is to their "Gandalf".

And we have fun watching it.

Ian McKellen is a one-man show with a minimalist background on stage. He mixes antidotes and insights with the exceptional acting of many of Shakespeare's best. This includes Henry V at Agincourt, Juliet from the balcony, even the best of Prospero. He also does a good Polonius "Tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastorical-comical, historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-comical-historical-pastoral." I will not go into all the detail, however, you will get some new insights into the act of acting and may feel entertained. You will want to purchase this presentation as you will see something new with each viewing.

Most of my generation probably learned of Ian McKellen in 2000-2001 when he played Magneto in the X-Men movies, and Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings movies (in my case, I already knew about McKellen, having learned of him in 1998 when he played a Nazi fugitive in "Apt Pupil" and James Whale in "Gods and Monsters").

What those of us who only know McKellen's fantasy roles might not know is that he started out as a Shakespearean actor. He brought this to the fore with "Ian McKellen: Acting Shakespeare", a recording of him reciting lines from the Bard's works in front of an audience in New York. Without a doubt, this man knows his stuff when it comes to performing. Few actors put as much into their performances as Ian McKellen does. This recording gives us an idea of the work that he does. I've never seen any of his live performances - only his movie roles - but he's obviously a force to be reckoned with.

I don't know if the recording has a physical release, but it's available on YouTube. Definitely check it out if you get a chance.