PSA: Ian McKellen alert
Don't miss this one, you'll be livid
A bonus post today for everyone because if you don’t book pretty sharpish then you’ll miss what sounds like one of the theatre events of the year.
On June 18, booking opens (to members – sign up here, but paid membership is capped and closes TOMORROW) for Lear, The Yard Theatre’s reimagining of Shakespeare’s tragedy of power and petulance by playwright Simon Stephens and the Yard’s Artistic Director Jay Miller, and starring Ian McKellen. The show runs from November 17 (first preview) to January 2, and general sale opens on June 22.
Ian: I mean, I’ve organised my life for good or bad, so that acting is the main thing I do.
LEAR: My wits begin to turn —
Ian: So if I’m not acting, what’s the point?
Tickets cost between £10 to £90. As Executive Director Ashleigh Wheeler points out, they could charge a great deal more, and fill the place in seconds, but that’s not really the way they do things at the Yard, which is probably quite a lot of the reason that McKellen and Stephens are supporting in this way.
There are also four Legend seats held for every performance – the best seats in the house, for those who want to give more (the money goes straight back into the work: new voices, tickets for schools etc. That’s from £150). And there are concessions available for those 65+, under 27, unwaged, in education and with access needs. Access bookings are made through the box office, with companion tickets free.
That’s all you need to know to get moving on this, but it’s worth noting that the theatre, in Hackney Wick, is an incredible success story that was meant to last six months and has now been going for 15 years. Miller and fifty volunteers converted a warehouse in 2011, and despite the lease running out exactly when they said it would, the Yard survived. It produces and programmes work across theatre, live art, cabaret, dance and drag, and shows have transferred to the National Theatre, become BAFTA-winning television shows, toured the world and won Olivier Awards.
Now the next phase is beginning, with a brand new purpose-built venue about 30 yards from the original, designed by RIBA award-winning Takero Shimazaki Architects and twice the size, built sustainably with reused brick from the old Yard.
Don’t miss it. You’ll kick yourself.