An Evening with Sir Ian McKellen

Sir Ian McKellen visited the Guthrie Theater in October for performances of King Lear and the Seagull. The quick sell-out of the tickets disappointed many people, myself included. Minneapolis would be one of only three cities in the U.S which the Royal Shakespeare Comany would be visiting, which is a nice reflection of our status as a theater mecca. As chance would have it, I had the opportunity of attending the Forum in which Sir Ian sat himself in a chair alongside Guthrie's artistic director Joe Dowling. But more on this in a moment.

To begin with, the new Guthrie theater is unlike many other theaters in the world. As you enter the bluish forms of the building itself you enter into spaces of a kind your mind has rarely experienced before. Criticized by some for being inconvenient or unnecessary, it does have a surreal feel to it. The building includes escalators, curving ramps, uniquely placed windows, Kubrick-esque mid-level lighting and strategically placed window which provide a good portal view of the surrounding river and mill district. This is also home to the 'never-ending bridge.' If you have the chance, take a stroll through the structure. I've posted a few views of Minneapolis through the windows.

The theater offered an intimate realm in which to spectate. Introduced by Dowling, Sir Ian came strolling out, sporting his nice white beard. The conversation dealt particularly with theater and his lifelong experiences with it. McKellen has a humorous, but hardly pretentious, demeanor. His is a voice which most have embedded in their ear ever-after they first hear it. So, to be one of a lucky few to share in this forum felt a special privilege.

During the question and answer session the audience presented many good and respectful questions to the guest. In one such answer he noted that he believes this to be the era of the great actress, not of the great actor. He named Dame Judy Dench as such an actress. He also reflected on his memories of Sir Guthrie, his encouragement of modern adaptations of Shakespeare's plays, his dependency upon pockets, and his experience in trying to understand the characters which he plays. Towards the end of the forum my senses were sharpened as I could tell McKellen was preparing himself for something. He continued to talk but starting to remove his earpiece and lap mic and made some soft-worded comments about having a gift for us. He removed these encumbrances and pardoned himself from the televised audience and began to speak about Shakespeare's play of Thomas More.

No theater company had brought it to stage until Ian McKellen had the opportunity to be the first. So, he said, he could be considered the last invention of a Shakespeare play brought to life. Quickly transforming himself into Thomas More, Sir Ian McKellen shared something entirely rare and entirely precious. What follows is some of the poignant and timely passage he chose to deliver.

Grant them removed, and grant that this your noise
Hath chid down all the majesty of England;
Imagine that you see the wretched strangers,
Their babies at their backs and their poor luggage,
Plodding tooth ports and costs for transportation,
And that you sit as kings in your desires,
Authority quite silent by your brawl,
And you in ruff of your opinions clothed;
What had you got? I'll tell you: you had taught
How insolence and strong hand should prevail,
How order should be quelled; and by this pattern
Not one of you should live an aged man,
For other ruffians, as their fancies wrought,
With self same hand, self reasons, and self right,
Would shark on you, and men like ravenous fishes
Would feed on one another.
...You'll put down strangers,
Kill them, cut their throats, possess their houses,
And lead the majesty of law in line,
To slip him like a hound...
...To find a nation of such barbarous temper,
That, breaking out in hideous violence,
Would not afford you an abode on earth...
...And this your mountanish inhumanity.