Snobs don’t understand what panto’s about, says new Mother Goose star Ian McKellen

HIS recent roles include Hamlet and King Lear but Sir Ian McKellen is preparing to do panto in the West End — and said critics who are snobbish about it do not understand the art form.

- Robert Dex

The 83-year-old actor, who became a worldwide star playing the wizard Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings saga, will appear alongside John Bishop and Mel Giedroyc in Mother Goose at the Duke of York’s Theatre.

He told the Standard the show was the “bit of fun everyone needs at this time”.

He said: “The thing about pantomime is it is always changing, it is always getting itself up to date. I’ve always been as keen a theatregoer as I have been an actor and I see things very much from an audience’s point of view and pantomime is very important.