"The 86-year-old suffered wrist and neck injuries after he lost his footing during a fight scene while starring as Henry IV character John Falstaff in Player Kings at the Noel Coward Theatre in June 2024. McKellen cried out in pain as staff rushed to help and the show was promptly cancelled. He had hoped to return to the stage following the accident, but was later forced to withdraw following medical advice."
""I have accepted that I'm not immortal. Yet I still function. And really the inevitability of mortality comes not just from what you are feeling about yourself, but the simple fact that your friends die - all the time." He continued: "When you are young, death is astonishing, a fascinating thing, but it's a feature of getting older. Death becomes ever present.""
Sir Ian McKellen, 86, fell from the stage during a fight scene while playing John Falstaff in Player Kings, suffering wrist and neck injuries that led to show cancellation and later medical withdrawal. The accident intensified his awareness of mortality; he accepted that he is not immortal yet still functions. The deaths of friends underscore mortality's inevitability and make death feel ever present. He described replaying the fall, feeling shame and avoiding going out. He stated that he still has more to do and is promoting an experimental VR production titled An Ark in the Shed.
Read at The Independent
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