Ian McKellen

A year without a new play by Sir David Hare can’t be all bad—and so it happily proved.

Top of my list is the stunning, imaginative achievement of Gregory Burke’s Black Watch—the first docudrama about war I’ve seen to successfully turn reportage into art, and the first play about the Iraq war to tell its story from the point of view of the soldiers. It was a political play that—praise be!—didn’t preach to the choir. To the contrary, it frequently wrong-footed us. It took us all as close to the experience of war as any of us is ever likely to get, thank God. Its ensemble of unknown Scottish actors was superb. And it left us in tears.

Many theatergoers had to be turned away during its sold-out run at St. Ann’s Warehouse. It would be a smashing gift to New York if Black Watch returned in the New Year.  read more »

Australian pop gal Kylie Minogue and Sir Ian McKellen, the bankable British thespian who recently starred in a production of King Lear at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, were named to Queen Elizabeth II's New Year Honours list. Mr. McKellen was elevated to Companion of Honour, the order of 65 leading members of the arts, science and industry founded by George V, according to the UK's Independent.  read more »

The achievement of Ian McKellen’s King Lear is that he’s the first I’ve seen to fully convey the horribleness of monstrous old age.  read more »