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Sir Ian McKellen has been hospitalised after falling off stage during a performance of Player Kings at a theatre in London.
The 85-year-old actor was in a fight scene when he slipped and fell from the stage of the Noël Coward theatre. He cried out in pain as staff rushed to help.
The show was promptly canceled and the audience was asked to leave but the veteran performer is expected to appear in Wednesday’s matinee after the Tuesday performance was called off.
Player Kings, a new version of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Parts One and Two adapted by Robert Icke, has been at the theatre since April. McKellen plays John Falstaff alongside Richard Coyle and Ted Lasso’s Toheeb Jimoh.
In a statement to The Independent, a representative of Player Kings said: “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.
“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.
“The production has made the decision to cancel the performance on Tuesday 18 June so Ian can rest. Those affected will be contacted by their point of purchase as soon as possible tomorrow.
“Thank you to doctors Rachel and Lee who were on hand in the audience and to all the venue staff for their support.
The BBC had earlier reported that one member of the audience described the incident as “very shocking”.
“I really hope that he is going to be alright,” Sandro Trapani said. “As far as I saw, he was conscious because he was asking for assistance.”
Paul Critchley, a Methodist minister from Downham Market who was in the audience, said: “Sir Ian seemed to trip as he moved downstage to take a more active part in the scene. He picked up momentum as he moved downstage which resulted in him falling off the stage directly in front of the audience.
“The house lights came up very quickly as the stage management and front of house team dealt with the incident. We were evacuated immediately so that Sir Ian could be treated in privacy.”
The Independent has reached out to McKellen’s representatives and the Noël Coward theatre for further comment.
Earlier this week, McKellen said that he’d like to appear in a recently announced Lord of the Rings film “if I’m alive”.
He famously played Gandalf in Peter Jackson’s blockbuster JRR Tolkien adaptations, and it has been rumored he will reprise the role for a new movie centred on Andy Serkis’s Gollum.
Those rumors began after Warner Bros announced The Hunt for Gollum last month, and McKellen confirmed in a new interview that there are “stirrings in Tolkien land”.
Speaking to The Times, McKellen said he has heard that Gandalf will be in the film, but levelled: “There is no script, there is no offer, there is no plan.”
McKellen also reflected on his age during the interview, revealing that he now often wonders if the projects he accepts will be his final job.
“If you want to know that you are mortal, you just have to look at your address book. And so when a script comes through, or the hint of an offer, you think, ‘This might be my last job. No. I’m not doing that.’”
Player Kings is due to move to the Bristol Hippodrome in July and will also be staged in Birmingham, Norwich and Newcastle.
