A fund-raising project for The Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company, this will be the first time in over five years that Sir Ian has presented A KNIGHT OUT live on stage.He's preparing a special version of A KNIGHT OUT for the Vancouver Playhouse, so expect some surprises! The following applies to previous versions of A KNIGHT OUT.
A KNIGHT OUT is an evening of chat, reminiscence, and performance, telling the story of two parallel journeys. Alone onstage, Sir Ian recalls his childhood fascination with the theatre and his experience of acting in London's West End, on Broadway, in Los Angeles, and beyond. He also confides his early awareness of being gay and his momentous decision to finally come out of the closet just before Queen Elizabeth knighted him in 1991 for his services to the performing arts.
"A Knight Out" (is) McKellen's chatty, dignified, and insightful one-man show about his parallel journeys as an actor and a gay man. "A Knight Out" is the kind of inspirational story that so many first-person staged confessionals fail to be. Going beyond the smugness and narcissistic posturing that often define this genre, McKellen offers a moving and witty assessment of the conflict between our public and private selves. If knighthood has less to do with medals than with courage and service to others, Sir Ian is worthy of his title. — Reed Johnson, The Daily News
(Sir Ian McKellen's) virtuosity is intact as he chronicles his life onstage and off through brief but tantalizing performance excerpts, culled from such diverse contributors as Shakespeare, William Blake, Tennessee Williams, Armistead Maupin, David Hockney and others. McKellen delves into his exquisitely developed repertoire of characters, honed from more than 30 years of stage and film performances. With awe-inspiring virtuosity, McKellen flows in and out of the poetry of Blake and D.H. Lawrence, King James I's letter to his homosexual lover, an excerpt from the autobiography of Williams and two riveting scenes from Shakespeare's Coriolanus. — Julio Martinez, Variety
McKellen makes us aware of the vast and powerful intolerance outside the comfortable walls of the theater. Endowed with a rare technique, he is a natural storyteller, an admirable human being and a hands-on activist. — Laurie Winer, The Los Angeles Times
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