Put Forth - Adopt Sir Ian McKellen
Not long ago, I wrote how seeing Ian McKellen portray King Lear for the National Theater of London gave me the kick in the ass I needed to find the words to honor my grandfather. As that piece wasn’t ostensibly about McKellen, I didn’t want to get too deep into my appreciation for this giant among actors. Well, I’d like to do that now.
Sir Ian began his career (according to his IMDB.com page) in 1964. During this amazing theatrical/move/television journey he has portrayed characters in over 100 on-screen movie and theater productions. Classic works like David Copperfield, the stories of Rudyard Kipling, and Rasputin (where he played Tsar Nicholas II) to name just a few. Also, many purely commercial movies like “The Shadow”, “Scandal”, and “Emile”. For good or ill, depending on your point of view, he probably is best known (especially to younger viewers) for his starring roles in The Lord of the Rings franchise, as well as the X-Men movies. But I’d like to give my appreciation for his Shakespearean portrayals.
McKellen has played Hamlet, Lear, Richards II and III, Iago, and Macbeth. Sometimes the role has been in theater, like the production of King Lear I mentioned earlier, and sometimes it has been on the big screen, like his awesome portrayal of Richard III. Wherever the role, he has filled and dominated the production. He is the rare actor who does the Bard justice. Sadly, in an interview during the rehearsals of this latest production of King Lear, he said that this would probably be his last full role in a Shakespeare play. Slacker…so what he’s 80-years-old! Step up! Ah, Sancho kids because we love…
Anyway, watching Sir Ian give such a great, heart-wrenching and lasting performance of the aging King who is battling the evil daughters as well as that epitome of darkness, the bastard Edmund, not to mention a mind that is slowly receding and finally goes mad when he cradles his favorite daughter Cordelia in his arms after she is murdered, it reminded me of why we need to read Shakespeare. Because it’s so rare to see a good production of Shakespeare, reading the plays becomes even more imperative. Uh-oh, you’re gonna start preaching, aren’t you Peter? Yes I am.
I just really think we need to read Shakespeare. He’s universal. He provides a spiritual value that has nothing to do with organized religion. He makes our minds stronger and more vital. He tells us things that we have forgotten, or things we couldn’t possibly know without him. In essence, he knows more than we do. Harold Bloom, the indispensable literary critic, wrote that Shakespeare invented the human. He meant, I think, that before Shakespeare writers never fully grasped how to describe human emotion, frailty, what have you. And ever since Shakespeare, writers have been trying to match his portrayal of character. Shakespeare taught us how to overhear ourselves, and how to change based on that overhearing. Oh, that we could always change based on our overhearing. There is a character in every play whether it is a major or minor one that we can completely relate to. How many other authors can we say that of, if any. Shakespeare knows more than we do, and is always out there in front of us…waiting.
In the end, I think most of us care about wisdom, and want to be judged by whether or not we have it. If we don’t have it, like your humble correspondent, then we ask the biblical question “Where shall wisdom be found?” And I suppose, for me, the answer is: wisdom is to be found in Shakespeare.
And before it’s too late, let’s adopt Sir Ian McKellen as an American citizen. Maybe we can talk him into one more play.
Sir Ian began his career (according to his IMDB.com page) in 1964. During this amazing theatrical/move/television journey he has portrayed characters in over 100 on-screen movie and theater productions. Classic works like David Copperfield, the stories of Rudyard Kipling, and Rasputin (where he played Tsar Nicholas II) to name just a few. Also, many purely commercial movies like “The Shadow”, “Scandal”, and “Emile”. For good or ill, depending on your point of view, he probably is best known (especially to younger viewers) for his starring roles in The Lord of the Rings franchise, as well as the X-Men movies. But I’d like to give my appreciation for his Shakespearean portrayals.
McKellen has played Hamlet, Lear, Richards II and III, Iago, and Macbeth. Sometimes the role has been in theater, like the production of King Lear I mentioned earlier, and sometimes it has been on the big screen, like his awesome portrayal of Richard III. Wherever the role, he has filled and dominated the production. He is the rare actor who does the Bard justice. Sadly, in an interview during the rehearsals of this latest production of King Lear, he said that this would probably be his last full role in a Shakespeare play. Slacker…so what he’s 80-years-old! Step up! Ah, Sancho kids because we love…
Anyway, watching Sir Ian give such a great, heart-wrenching and lasting performance of the aging King who is battling the evil daughters as well as that epitome of darkness, the bastard Edmund, not to mention a mind that is slowly receding and finally goes mad when he cradles his favorite daughter Cordelia in his arms after she is murdered, it reminded me of why we need to read Shakespeare. Because it’s so rare to see a good production of Shakespeare, reading the plays becomes even more imperative. Uh-oh, you’re gonna start preaching, aren’t you Peter? Yes I am.
I just really think we need to read Shakespeare. He’s universal. He provides a spiritual value that has nothing to do with organized religion. He makes our minds stronger and more vital. He tells us things that we have forgotten, or things we couldn’t possibly know without him. In essence, he knows more than we do. Harold Bloom, the indispensable literary critic, wrote that Shakespeare invented the human. He meant, I think, that before Shakespeare writers never fully grasped how to describe human emotion, frailty, what have you. And ever since Shakespeare, writers have been trying to match his portrayal of character. Shakespeare taught us how to overhear ourselves, and how to change based on that overhearing. Oh, that we could always change based on our overhearing. There is a character in every play whether it is a major or minor one that we can completely relate to. How many other authors can we say that of, if any. Shakespeare knows more than we do, and is always out there in front of us…waiting.
In the end, I think most of us care about wisdom, and want to be judged by whether or not we have it. If we don’t have it, like your humble correspondent, then we ask the biblical question “Where shall wisdom be found?” And I suppose, for me, the answer is: wisdom is to be found in Shakespeare.
And before it’s too late, let’s adopt Sir Ian McKellen as an American citizen. Maybe we can talk him into one more play.
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