Ian McKellen recalls his stage fall from Player Kings and says that the fat suit he wore for the role saved him from more severe injuries.
“I was wearing a fat suit for Falstaff and that saved my ribs and other joints. So I’ve had a lucky escape really…,” McKellen said in an interview with Saga magazine.
The actor recounted the fall he suffered earlier this year saying that it happened during a battle scene, adding, “My foot got caught in a chair, and trying to shake it off I started to slide on some newspaper that was scattered over the stage, like I was on a skateboard.”
“The more I tried to get rid of it, the faster I proceeded down a step, onto the forestage, and then on to the lap of someone in the front row,” he continued. “I started screaming, ‘Help me!’ and then ‘I’m sorry! I don’t do this!’ Extraordinary things. I thought it was the end of something. It was very upsetting.”
McKellen said he “didn’t lose consciousness” following the accident and the play continued with his understudy David Semark taking over.
“I don’t feel guilty, but the accident has let down the whole production,” he said. “I feel such shame. I was hoping to be able to rejoin the play on the tour, but I couldn’t.”
As far as his recovery goes, he’s still has to wear a neck brace and said, “My chipped vertebrae and fractured wrist are not yet mended. I don’t go out because I get nervous in case someone bangs into me, and I’ve got agonising pains in my shoulders to do with my whole frame having been jolted.”