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Ian McKellen is to celebrate his 80th birthday next year by raising funds for theatres, with a new solo show which will play on 80 stages across the UK. His show Ian McKellen On Stage comes to the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch on Sunday 24 and Monday 25 February 2019. His intimate show is a mixture of anecdote and acting, including Tolkien, Shakespeare, others...and you the audience. Ian McKellen says: ‘I’m celebrating my 80th birthday by touring a new solo show to theatres I know well and a few that I don’t. The show starts with Gandalf and will probably end with an invitation to act with me on stage. In-between there will be anecdotes and acting. I open at my local arts centre in January and end up by August in Orkney. It’s high time I performed in Hornchurch. The original Queen’s Theatre offered me my first professional job in 1961 for £7 a week. Like many another young actor I was attracted by being part of a repertory company doing a different play every fortnight. However, I took a rival offer from the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry for £8 a week! My 2 performances in Hornchurch - at last - are a way for me to say thank you for that encouraging offer, long ago, and to benefit the QNew Transformation programme and support local artists.’ Profits raised from this rare opportunity to see one of Britain’s greatest actors in a local venue will go towards the Theatre’s QNew Transformation fundraising programme. QNew is an exciting programme of building improvements which will allow the Theatre to make high quality theatre in developed spaces. More information about QNew can be found here. Queen’s Angels can access a 48-hour priority booking period as of today, Friday 9 November from 10am. Queen’s Angels are those who regularly support the Theatre’s work by making monthly donations. Audiences who would like to become a Queen’s Angel and receive priority booking to Ian McKellen On Stage can sign up here. Details about Ian McKellen On Stage can be found here.   Tickets go on sale to the public on Sunday 11 November at 10am and can be purchased online at queens-theatre.co.uk. Tickets are £50, with a £65 premium experience (plus a 65p QNew Transformation fee) offer that includes the best seats, an ice-cream in the interval and a post-show reception with prosecco and canapés. There are also a limited number of £20 tickets for Under 26s. Ian Mckellen On Stage is presented by Ambassador Theatre Group and directed by Sean Mathias. More information about the tour can be found here: www.ianonstage.co.uk