The woman who cushioned Ian McKellen’s fall from the stage at the Noël Coward Theatre earlier this week has said she spent the night in hospital after the incident.
McKellen, 85, slipped and fell off the stage during a fight scene in Robert Icke’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry IV –Player Kings –and allegedly landed on the 30-year-old in the front row.
Johanna from Leatherhead, Surrey – who did not give reporters her surname – said she was left in pain and shock and claims staff at the theatre did not provide adequate care.
Speaking to the BBC, Johanna said she had her legs crossed when McKellen tripped on a prop and “flew head first” into her and collided with her knee “quite hard”.
“Getting crushed by Gandalf the Grey, that’s something you don’t expect,” she said, adding she had been taken to hospital with soft tissue injuries in the aftermath of the actor’s fall.
Johanna recalled how McKellen had screamed out in pain, which sent her “into shock”. While staff rushed to help the actor, two women from the audience – one of whom was a doctor – took care of Johanna, who said she was visibly “in distress”.
“I felt a bit like I wasn’t really being checked on,” she said, adding if it weren’t for the doctor who helped her, she might “not have necessarily got the same amount of care” from staff.
A spokesperson at the Noël Coward Theatre apologised for the incident and said it offered Johanna “support and assistance from the moment it happened and will continue to do so”.
The Independent has contacted McKellen’s representatives for comment.
Johanna said she spent the rest of the night in the emergency department of Epsom hospital where she was given medication for pain in her neck, shoulders and upper back.
She said she didn’t know any details about McKellen’s condition and was “so worried something really bad had happened”.
Johanna added it was an “unforgettable” encounter but “not necessarily the encounter I would ever want to have with Sir Ian”.
Sir Ian McKellen has said he is having “physiotherapy, light exercise and a lot of essential rest at home” after three nights in hospital following the fall from the stage.
“I want to thank everyone for their kind messages and support,” the actor said via his publicist, Clair Dobbs, on X/Twitter on Tuesday (18 June).
“Since the accident, during a performance of Player Kings last night, my injuries have been diagnosed and treated by a series of experts, specialists and nurses working for the National Health Service.
“To them, of course, I am hugely indebted.”
