S Poddar
Beloved actor Ian McKellen, 85, shared that his fat suit did an unexpected job of sparing him from serious injury during a terrifying fall from the London Noël Coward Theatre stage in June. Though the costume would have eased a little of the shock, McKellen still feels great pain as he recuperates.
At the time, McKellen was starring in the play Player Kings, playing Shakespeare’s Falstaff. He had toured with the piece for two months when, one evening, he lost his balance and fell into the audience, coming to land on the first row. The mishap obliged him to withdraw from the play; he has been recuperating at home ever since.
“My chipped vertebrae and fractured wrist are still not fully healed,” revealed McKellen in an interview with Saga magazine. He described the continuing struggle, saying, “I avoid leaving the house because I’m worried someone might bump into me. The pain in my shoulders has been excruciating, a result of the jolt my body took during the fall. But I’m grateful that the fat suit I wore as Falstaff saved my ribs and other joints. In that sense, I feel fortunate.”
Reflecting on the fall, McKellen admitted that its memory has haunted him. “I’ve relived that fall hundreds and hundreds of times. It was a horrific experience,” he said.
He fell during a fight scene, explained McKellen, when his foot was caught up in a chair. Trying to free himself, McKellen began to slide on a piece of newspaper lying on the floor of the stage. “It was like I was on a skateboard,” he said, describing how he tumbled into the lap of somebody in the front row. The audience gasped at the impact, and he screamed, both in pain and shock. “It was very upsetting. The end wasn’t supposed to mean my death—it was supposed to be my continued participation in the play,” McKellen recalled on the abrupt end to his role in the production.
I don’t feel guilty about what happened,” McKellen said. “I keep reminding myself that I’m not too old to act, and this was just a bloody accident. I didn’t lose consciousness, I hadn’t felt dizzy, but I just haven’t been able to return to the stage.”
Currently, McKellen still wears a neck brace and has his right hand in a splint as he recuperates from the injuries. For days after the accident, McKellen showed a desire to get back on stage, thanking the medical experts who were tending to him. “I’m grateful for the experts, specialists, and nurses who have been treating me. They’ve been wonderful,” he said.
At the time, a spokesperson for the Noël Coward Theatre had said that McKellen was expected to make “a speedy and full recovery,” but he finally had to withdraw, replaced by his understudy, David Semark.
Indeed, McKellen’s fall has been an absolutely vital reminder of the physicality required during live theatre, even for one of his years of experience. Available reports disclosed that the fat suit he wore might have saved him from far worse injuries, but the recovery process has been anything but smooth. Even as he recuperates, his resilience and dedication to the craft are patent, even when faced with such a daunting setback.
