geeking out on shakespeare's histories

Don't be. That London production was AWFUL. I don't even remember if McKellen was any good, because the direction and the acting around him were terrible. You have to understand that at the time I was an actress and was about to start directing - and I kept being horrified by the production. Just some examples: every time Hamlet had a soliloquoy, everyone else on the stage froze in place, and a spotlight came down overhead on Hamlet. McKellen would then "assume a pose" that always seemed to be with one hand wafting in the air, the other on his hip. After about three of these the audience began to snicker, because it was overly pretentious (and there were four more to go!). Horatio - a character I adore - was played by a "hale fellow well met" kind of guy, who looked like a tennis pro, and who would have been better in a kitschy English mystery ("Hallo, Auntie! What have you done with the body, eh? Har har har!") and when he had to say the line, "Now cracks a noble heart," he actually felt around for Hamlet's pulse and then put his head on Hamlet's chest, and then checked to see if he was breathing. Calling Dr. Badactor! I mostly also fault the director who let it all happen.

It was by no means the worst production of Hamlet I've ever seen, but it was really close to it.