IAN MCKELLEN IS FALSTAFF IN
ROBERT ICKE’S PRODUCTION OF
PLAYER KINGS
ADAPTED FROM SHAKESPEARE’S HENRY IV, PARTS 1 & 2
Ambassador Theatre Group Productions today announce Player Kings, adapted by Robert Icke from William Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2. Icke directs Ian McKellen as John Falstaff, with further casting to be announced.
The production runs at the Noël Coward Theatre, 1 April – 22 June 2024, with previews at New Wimbledon Theatre, 1 March – 9 March 2024, and Manchester Opera House, 14 – 23 March 2024.
Robert Icke said today, “It’s a genuine honour to work with one of our greatest Shakespearean actors, Ian McKellen, especially as he tackles one of the most iconic Shakespearean roles – and one he’s previously never turned his hand to. It’s an exciting challenge to bring together two of Shakespeare’s plays into one production, and I’m so excited to share Player Kings with audiences in the West End and across the country. I’m also thrilled that we’ll have at least 60 dedicated £30 tickets for those under 30 at every performance, including in some prime spots in the auditorium.”
Ian McKellen also commented, “I decided to become a professional actor at Cambridge in 1959, when I was in John Barton’s undergraduate production of Henry IV. Derek Jacobi played Prince Hal and I was the ancient Justice Shallow. Ever since, the plays have been among my favourite Shakespeares, although through the years I’ve resisted offers to play John Falstaff. Robert Icke’s ingenious adaptation was irresistible.”
Across the three venues there will be 8,000 tickets at £30 or under exclusively for under 30s – with at least 60 tickets available for every performance located across all levels of the auditorium. Available to book from general on sale via www.playerkingstheplay.co.uk.
Tickets for New Wimbledon Theatre and Manchester Opera House are available to ATG+ members today, Wednesday 15 November at 12pm; with general booking open from tomorrow, Thursday 16 November at 10am.
Tickets for Noël Coward Theatre will be available to DMT+ Priority on Monday 20 November at 10am, and those signed up for priority booking at 12pm; general booking opens Tuesday 21 November at 10am.
Find out more and sign up for priority booking access at www.playerkingstheplay.co.uk
Ambassador Theatre Group Productions, Gavin Kalin Productions and No Guarantees present
PLAYER KINGS
Based on William Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2
Adapted and Directed by Robert Icke
Designer: Hildegard Bechtler; Lighting Designer: Lee Curran; Sound Designer: Gareth Fry;
Casting Director: Julia Horan; Fight Director: Kev McCurdy
Ian McKellen – ‘one of the world’s greatest actors’ (Times) – plays Falstaff in a new version of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, adapted by the award-winning writer and director Robert Icke.
A divided country, leadership crumbling, corruption in the air. Welcome to England.
Hal wasn’t born to be king. Only now, it seems, he will be. His father longs for him to leave behind his friends in the taverns of Eastcheap, most notably the infamous John Falstaff. War is on the horizon. But will Hal ever come good?
Bringing together Shakespeare’s two great history plays (Henry IV, parts 1 and 2), Player Kings will reign over London’s West End for twelve weeks only – playing at the Noël Coward Theatre from April 2024.
Ian McKellen plays John Falstaff. He first acted at school and with amateur groups in the north of England, where he was born and brought up. He studied English at Cambridge University and, since 1961, has worked non-stop in the British theatre. He has been leading man and produced plays, modern and classic, for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre of Great Britain and in the West End of London.
He was in the first production of Martin Sherman’s sensational Bent and in premières of plays by Arnold Wesker, Peter Shaffer, Michael Frayn, Alan Ayckbourn, Mark Ravenhill and currently Ben Wetherill (Frank and Percy). Of late he has starred in Waiting for Godot and No Man’s Land (with Patrick Stewart) and as Mother Goose in Jonathan Harvey’s pantomime. As Salieri in Amadeus he won every available award on Broadway.
In Shakespeare he has triumphed as Richard II, Macbeth (with Judi Dench), Coriolanus, Iago, Richard III (also on film) and most recently as King Lear (twice) and as an 80 year old Hamlet in Sean Mathias’ upcoming film. For over a decade, he toured his one-man show, Acting Shakespeare, at home and abroad.
McKellen is recognised worldwide as Magneto in the X-Men films and as Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. He received his first Academy Award® nomination, for Best Actor, as the gay film director James Whale, in Bill Condon’s 1998 classic Gods and Monsters. Since he has starred in The Da Vinci Code, Mr Holmes, Beauty and the Beast, All is True, The Good Liar and The Critic.
In 2019 McKellen became the first actor to top The Stage 100 list of most influential people in British theatre, following his triumphant UK Tour and West End run of Ian McKellen on Stage which raised £5 million to support regional theatres.
McKellen’s television work stretches from Rasputin (Golden Globe Award) to Coronation Street, from Extras with Ricky Gervais to Vicious with Derek Jacobi and The Dresser with Anthony Hopkins. On the first ever Film On Four, he was Stephen Frears’ Walter.
Sir Ian was knighted in 1991. He is a co-founder of Stonewall UK, which lobbies for legal and social equality for gay people. In 2008, he was appointed Companion of Honour, “for services to drama and to equality’.
Robert Icke is an award-winning writer and director, working in theatre and on screen.
His recent productions include Judas, Children of Nora, and Oedipus at International Theater Amsterdam, where until 2023 he was Ibsen Artist in Residence. His adaptation of Animal Farm played an extensive national tour in 2022 and is slated for a London transfer. His monologue condensation of Enemy of the People starred Ann Dowd at Park Avenue Armory and was one of the first new pieces of theatre to play in New York post the shutdown.
In six years at the Almeida, five of his productions transferred to the West End, and four to New York. These included his adaptations of The Wild Duck, Mary Stuart (also West End and National tour), Uncle Vanya, Oresteia (also West End; Schauspiel Stuttgart; Park Avenue Armory), and 1984 (co-created with Duncan Macmillan, also Broadway; West End; national and international tours). As a director, his productions included Hamlet (also West End; Park Avenue Armory; and broadcast on BBC2); The Fever and Mr Burns. His final production at the Almeida was The Doctor, which played this summer at Park Avenue Armory, in the West End in 2022, and remains in repertoire at both the Burgtheater in Vienna and Internationaal Theater Amsterdam, as well as in numerous new productions across the globe.
His awards include two Evening Standard ‘Best Director’ Awards; the Critics’ Circle Award, the Kurt Hübner Award (for his debut production in Germany); and the Olivier Award for ‘Best Director’, of which he was the youngest ever winner. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
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LISTINGS
PLAYER KINGS
Box Office: www.playerkingstheplay.co.uk
New Wimbledon Theatre
1 March – 9 March 2024
On sale to ATG+ members today at 12pm; general booking open from Thursday 16 November at 10am.
Manchester Opera House
14 – 23 March 2024
On sale to ATG+ members today at 12pm; general booking open from Thursday 16 November at 10am.
Noël Coward Theatre
1 April – 22 June 2024
On sale to DMT+ Priority on Monday 20 November at 10am, and those signed up for priority booking at 12pm; general booking opens Tuesday 21 November at 10am.