My career has rested on the patronage of a few directors. Primo inter pares is Trevor Nunn, the fellow-undergraduate with whom I acted at Cambridge. When he succeeded Peter Hall as artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he invited me to Stratford to play Leontes to Judi Dench's Hermione/Perdita double which I still regret not having been free to accept. When, in 1976, he suggested I play Macbeth with Judi, as well as Romeo with Francesca Annis (the most beautiful woman I have ever worked with) the offer was irresistible. Ironically, Leontes was also part of the deal although not, alas, with Judi. So I found myself fulfilling a childhood fantasy of working at Stratford-upon-Avon and, as it turned out, during one of the RSC's golden eras.
I had first been there when I cycled south from Lancashire for the Bolton School camp in Tiddington, a village along the Avon from the theatre, whence we punted each evening for the plays. Early morning we queued for cheap tickets, often standing at the back of the stalls for half-a-crown (12p). This was before Peter Hall transformed a summer festival theatre into an all-year-round operation with a permanent company on some long term contracts and with the Aldwych Theatre in London as its West End home. By 1976 (the first year that there had been air-conditioning in the auditorium, although not backstage) Trevor Nunn was firmly in control. He divided his time between Warwickshire and London but I had no complaints of being neglected.
I lodged in a couple of rooms on the upper floor of what looked like a haunted house just along the river from the church where Shakespeare was baptised and buried. I clambered daily over the wall surrounding Holy Trinity and through the graveyard to the Bancroft Gardens, where, 16 years before, I had acted in the open air as a student.
Every day of that season was a romance: and my lover was the theatre. — Ian McKellen, July 2003
| Year | Place | Title/Writer | Director/Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 |
Royal Shakespeare Company Stratford-upon-Avon, Newcastle-upon Tyne, London |
ROMEO AND JULIET (1976)
William Shakespeare |
DIRECTOR: Trevor Nunn ROLE: Romeo |
| 1976 |
Royal Shakespeare Theatre Stratford-upon-Avon |
Shakespeare Birthday Celebrations Concert | |
| 1976 |
Royal Shakespeare Company RST Stratford-upon-Avon |
THE WINTER'S TALE
William Shakespeare |
DIRECTOR: John Barton, Barry Kyle, and Trevor Nunn ROLE: King Leontes |
| 1976 |
Royal Shakespeare Company Other Place, Stratford-upon-avon; Gulbenkinan Theatre, Newcastle; RST, Stratford; Donmar Stratford-upon-Avon; Newcastle; London |
MACBETH
William Shakespeare |
DIRECTOR: Trevor Nunn ROLE: Macbeth Plays & Players' London Theatre Critics' Award - Best Actor |
| 1976 |
Shakespeare Institute Stratford-upon-Avon |
Atlantic Affairs | |
| 1976 |
UK Edinburgh, Belfast, Yorkshire |
WORDS, WORDS, WORDS
Anthology with commentary by Ian McKellen |
ROLE: Solo recital of favourite writings |
| 1976 |
Royal Festival Hall London |
Recital of poems by Yevgeni Yevtushenko
|
|
| 1976 |
Aldwych Theatre London |
Celebrity Gala Recital | |
| 1977 |
Hilton Hotel Stratford-upon-Avon |
WON'T YOU CHARLESTON? |
DIRECTOR: Gillian Lynne |
| 1977 |
Royal Shakespeare Company Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon; Aldwych Theatre, London Stratford-upon-Avon; London |
THE ALCHEMIST
Ben Jonson (adapted by Peter Barnes) |
DIRECTOR: Trevor Nunn ROLE: Face Society of West End Theatres (SWET) - Best Comedy Performance |
| 1977 |
Royal Shakespeare Company Barbican Concert Hall London |
EVERY GOOD BOY DESERVES FAVOUR
Tom Stoppard with music by Andr‚ Previn |
DIRECTOR: Trevor Nunn ROLE: Alexander |
| 1977 |
Royal Shakespeare Company Aldwych Theatre London |
PILLARS OF THE COMMUNITY
Henrik Ibsen |
DIRECTOR: John Barton ROLE: Karsten Bernick Society of West End Theatres (SWET) - Best Actor |
| 1977 |
St. Cecilia's Hall Edinburgh |
ACTING SHAKESPEARE
From Shakespeare with commentary by Ian McKellen |
|
| 1977 |
Royal Shakespeare Company Aldwych Theatre London |
THE DAYS OF THE COMMUNE
Bertolt Brecht, Translation by Clive Barker |
DIRECTOR: Howard Davies ROLE: Langevin |
| 1977 |
Arts Theatre Belfast |
ACTING SHAKESPEARE (Belfast)
From Shakespeare with commentary by Ian McKellen |
|
| 1978 | Royal Shakespeare Company Aldwych Theatre London |
A
MISERABLE AND LONELY DEATH
Norman Fenton and Jon Blair |
Role: Kentridge |
| 1978 |
Wolsey Theatre Ipswich |
ACTING SHAKESPEARE (Ipswich)
From Shakespeare with commentary by Ian McKellen |
|
| 1978 | University of London: Senate House |
Homage to Neruda
Pablo Neruda |