Ian McKellen recently told Saga Magazine (via The Standard) that he experienced “agonizing” pain in the aftermath of his fall in June during a performance of “Player Kings” at the Noel Coward Theatre in London. The actor was playing John Falstaff when he fell offstage during a battle scene. McKellen tripped on a newspaper and fell into the front row of the audience, chipping his vertebrae and fracturing his wrist during the incident. These injuries “are not yet healed.”
“I avoid going out because I’m nervous someone might bump into me, and I’ve been dealing with agonizing pain in my shoulders due to the jolt my body took,” McKellen said. “But the fat suit I wore for Falstaff saved my ribs and other joints, so I consider myself lucky.”
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“I’ve relived that fall countless times. It was horrible,” he continued. “I thought it was the end of something. It was very upsetting. The end didn’t mean my death, but it felt like the end of my participation in the play.”
The injury did in fact mark the end of his time playing Falstaff in “Player Kings.” While McKellen issued a statement a few days after the fall in which he expressed interest in returning to the production, he later dropped out because of the injuries. He thanked the nurses and doctors who treated him at the time and said he was “hugely indebted” to them.
“I have to keep telling myself I’m not too old to act,” McKellen now told Saga Magazine. “It was just a bloody accident. I didn’t lose consciousness, I hadn’t been dizzy, but I’ve not been able to return to the stage, and they’ve continued without me.”
After McKellen was hospitalized, a representative for the theater shared a statement that the 85-year-old actor would “make a speedy and full recovery.” “Player Kings,” which is a production of William Shakespeare’s “Henry IV, Parts One and Two,” started its 12-week run on the West End in April.
