We were honoured to be the host venue for the start of Sir Ian McKellen’s 80th birthday tour with two very special performances. Proceeds from Ian McKellen on Stage are going towards the venues on the tour, an amazingly generous gesture by the acting legend. A generosity that was matched by our equally amazing audience, whose donations helped us to raise over £7,000 from the event. We’ll be using the funds to maintain our beautiful, grade II listed building, ensuring a home for the arts on the Isle of Dogs for many years to come.
As patron of the Space, since before the venue had even opened in 1996, Ian has performed with us on a number of occasions and described the building as one of his favourite performance spaces in London. Following the shows, our audiences took to Twitter to show their appreciation, describing it as ’truly humbling’, ‘inspirational and an honour to watch’, ‘utterly magnificent’ and there being ’so much to learn from his talent, experience and generosity’. We’re not going to give away any spoilers but suffice to say that fans of Shakespeare and Tolkien will not be disappointed!
Artistic Director of the Space, Adam Hemming, said, ‘We’re so proud to have Sir Ian McKellen as our patron, a legend of the stage and screen and a tireless campaigner for equality, he’s an inspiration to all. This tour – it’s an incredible thing to do, sharing the incredible things that he’s done, to support venues such as ours, so that we may strive to do incredible things. We’re so deeply indebted and wish Ian all the best for the journeys ahead.’
To find out where Ian is headed next, click here.
To become a member of the Space, click here.
To make a donation to help the Space maintain it’s grade II listed building, click here
Pictured above:- Pradeep Jeyaratnam-Joyner (Chair of the Board of Trustees), Sir Ian McKellen (Patron) and Adam Hemming (Director) at Space20 in 2016.