On Saturday night Sir Ian McKellen entered the stage at Auckland’s ASB Theatre as a regal king draped in ceremonial costume. He left as a broken man, in an unequivocal and heart rendering performance as King Lear, a monarch whose course of suffering is sparked by his blind, proud affection for his three daughters. From the elaborate opening scene, McKellen and his velvet-gravel voice carry the audience through Lear’s journey of sadness and disbelief at the betrayal of his two eldest daughters, through the haze of madness, to new hope in his youngest child, then down to the deep pit of eventual despair. It was a gripping ride. [More]