What Would You Ask Sir Ian and Sir Patrick?

Every time I see a photo or video with Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen, I’m clicking.  I love those guys. There’s something about seeing two of today’s greatest actors just hanging out and being goofy one moment, and churning out some outstanding acting together (both on film and on stage) the next.  P.S. I’d like to think that one day we’ll be saying this about Zach Braff and Donald Faison.  It’s guy love, that’s all it is.

But here’s what drives me crazy. Despite Stewart and McKellen’s lengthy Shakespeare resumes, I hardly ever see them talking about it. When people get to ask questions, nobody asks a Shakespeare question.

So let’s pretend. Let’s say that I’ve got Sir Patrick and Sir Ian here on stage with me at the first annual Shakespeare Geek Convention, that I haven’t completely fainted yet (got a little woozy just typing that), and we’re taking questions from the audience. There’ll be no Star Trek, Lord of the Rings or X-Men references today, people!  Nothing but Shakespeare questions. You only get one, which can be to either one or to both equally.

Here’s mine:

“Sir Ian,” (Sir Ian, Sir Ian, Sir Ian…), “Christopher Plummer performed his Prospero a few years back and that said that’s it for him, there were no more great roles for men his age. Dame Helen Mirren recently said a similar thing about roles for older women.  How do you feel about that?  Sir John Gieldgud was still performing Shakespeare into his nineties. You’ve played Prospero, you’ve played Lear, is there going to come a day when you too will retire from Shakespeare because there are no more roles for you?”

I was going to ask Sir Patrick an entirely different question about Claudius’ shrug when he drinks the poison, but I looked at the two questions and decided I like this one better.  Plus I don’t expect he’d answer that one.

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