Player Kings

NOE¨L COWARD THEATRE, LONDON

Next month, Sir Ian McKellen reaches 85, an age by which most of the great actors are playing cameos, retired or, to put it politely, archived in newspapers.

But here Sir Ian, thrillingly, is scheduled to spend more than three hours on stage every day except Sunday until midsummer, playing one of the great Shakespearean roles, the only one to elude him until now.