Words from Ian McKellen

This extract was my Shakespeare debut, in the comic scene where Maria tricks the insufferable steward Malvolio into believing he is adored by his employer. It was presented in Hopefield Theatre, an Edwardian house converted into a miniature theatre where Bolton School boys mounted shows at least once per term. Upstairs in the communal dressing-room, as the classics master George Sawtell applied my crepe hair moustache and beard, he joked that 'McKellen, of course, has greasepaint flowing in his veins.' McKellen, aged 12, believed him. — Ian McKellen, December 2006

Comments and Reviews

Act II Scene 5 performed as part of a programme of plays by Bolton School students