#ian-mckellen

[dduane]

"Director Phoebe Kemp said in a statement: “Twelfth Night already toys with gender and performance – it feels like Shakespeare wrote it for us. This reading is about joy, solidarity and showing what’s possible when trans and nonbinary artists are at the centre of the story.”"

[crossdreamers]

Sir Ian McKellen will open Shakespeare play with trans and nonbinary cast

Sir Ian McKellen (known as Gandalf) will open a historic production of Twelfth Night, featuring an all-trans and non-binary cast.

The one-night-only rehearsed reading, staged by the theatre group Trans What You Will, will take place at The Space Theatre in London on July 25, 2025, and will be livestreamed globally. All profits will go to the UK-based trans charity Not A Phase.

The production reimagines Shakespeare’s gender-fluid classic through a trans lens, emphasizing themes of mistaken identity, cross-dressing, and shifting gender roles.

Director Phoebe Kemp describes the reading as an act of joy, solidarity, and protest, celebrating trans and non-binary artists at a time when trans representation is under threat.

‘Twelfth Night already toys with gender and performance—it feels like Shakespeare wrote it for us,’ they tell Metro.

The event is scheduled ahead of London Trans+ Pride.

See also: Pink News and DNA

You can buy tickets here.

You might also be interested in: "William Shakespeare’s Love for a Transfeminine Crossdreamer"

[glorf1ndel]

I am absolutely rolling at Elrond's original hairstyle for the coronation scene in The Return of the King. He is the one named Sailor Moon

[mistandshcdow]

lotr behind the scenes

[tuserlivia]

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING 2001, dir. Peter Jackson

[logansdogmotif]

behind every gay mutant is a gayer, more evil, gay mutant

[thenotoriousscuttlecliff]

Magneto was right!

[milo03co]

All those years wasted fighting each other, Charles .. to have a precious few of them back…

[cherikyassss]

Two generations of Cherik 🥰 Absolute cuties

[wintermav]

Never thought I’d hear the phrase “this cute Australian guy” uttered by Sir Patrick Stewart when referring to Hugh Jackman, but here we are.

[illustratus]

[ninjagoiwtv]

i believe chess is lowkey their foreplay lol

[daily-men]

IAN MCKELLEN photographed by Frederic Aranda for The Times (2025)

[karl-von-moor-official]

"bbc sherlock was bad" this "rdj sherlock was too violent" that.

what if I love them all? what if I am hugging the best and the worst sherlock holmes adaptations close to my chest simultaneously?? what if I'm kissing Jeremy Brett on the forehead and holding hands with Sir Ian McKellen behind his back?! what then? Can you blame me for loving them all? What if I'm so in love with the overall concept of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson that I do not care whether they're Arthur C. Doyle's versions straight from the books or some new iterations in a true crime podcast!

I'm collecting them. Rows upon rows of adaptations in the shelves of my mind. They're all here.

[tuserlivia]

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (2001) dir. Peter Jackson

[velvet4510]

“All those years wasted fighting each other, Charles … to have a precious few of them back …” is one of THE most romantic lines in movie history and I don’t get how anybody can possibly be blind to their being in love when these are canonical words, spoken in the most passionate and profound delivery by Sir Ian McKellen (the LONGING in his voice, you guys), followed by Sir Patrick Stewart managing to convey a million different emotions without moving a single facial muscle in the reaction shots, and then a closeup of their hands perfectly fitting together like puzzle pieces. This is some Wuthering Heights-level yearning; it ain’t subtle. I’ve heard some people say this doesn’t really count as an apology, and those people have zero media literacy; this is an even MORE powerful statement than either “I’m sorry” or “I love you” could ever be. It’s the echo of the theme of “Time in a Bottle,” which not so coincidentally earlier played in the scene where the two of them are saved from a brutal death by their son in the past. It’s a perfect summary of the entire tragedy and beauty of their relationship.