Astonishing Ian McKellen news this week, as it was announced that the knight of the realm and undisputed prince of the stage is to embark on yet another Iconic Shakespeare Role, that of Sir John Falstaff.
It’s not clear how the lithe 84 year old actor will portray the famously rotund old soldier (God preserve us from fat suits), but I’m agog to find out. Hamlet, Lear, Prospero, Iago, Macbeth et al are all well and good but it’s going to be nice to see McKellen really flap his comic chops in a doublet and hose (rather than a frock and tights, in his beloved panto).
