Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Andrew Sanford | News | February 5, 2026
Many of my High School days were spent in our auditorium, rehearsing constantly for whatever show we were working on at the time. Every fall, we would work with Shakespeare & Co. out of Lenox, MA. They’d send directors and sets and costumes, and, after completing our school performances, we would get to perform in their Tina Packer Playhouse, which was modeled after the theaters of Shakespeare’s time. It was heavenly, and some of the performances I was in made their way online recently (not my turn as Bottom in 2004, but alas).
Understanding Shakespeare’s works has always been pretty easy for me, even before I began performing them. However, I can’t really explain why (which is why I’m certain I’d never make a very good teacher). I’m certainly not the only one, but, for someone who was not super popular, I was sought after when it came time to examine Shakespeare’s words via group assignment. To this day, I will happily give my attention to someone delivering the classic words of the Bard, and that was how I started my day today.
Ian McKellen, himself no stranger to Shakespeare, appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last night. Toward the end of the interview, he’s asked to perform a Shakespearean monologue that he originated in 1964. Read that again! Something written by one of the greatest playwrights to ever live had yet to be performed until well after his lifetime, and Ian McKellen was the one to do it. Colbert asks if he’ll perform it, and boy oh boy does he agree.
The monologue is from a play that ol’ Willy Shakes did not write himself, but contributed to. The speech in question is given by a young lawyer who is sent out to quell a riot that is spurred by folks who don’t want “strangers” in their midst. The strangers in question? Immigrants. McKellen plays a lawyer named Thomas More, who is sent out to quell the riots and does so by making it clear that what they are doing is illegal, but also appealing to their humanity, noting that, should they one day be “strangers,” perhaps as a result of their current actions, they would not want to be treated the same way.
McKellen’s performance is stunning. He immediately takes control of the room, delivering his speech with an inherent passion and understanding. Colbert claims earlier in the interview that McKellen is the greatest Shakespearean performer alive, and I’d be hard-pressed to disagree. What makes the performance all the more engrossing is its depressing relevance. But something is encouraging about being able to glean such lessons from the past. That doesn’t mean everyone will help with the group project of understanding it, but hopefully the right people will.
