I can think of no better celebration of national treasures than Ian McKellen’s 80th birthday tour, taking “a lifetime of accumulated skill back to the people, wherever they may be” (Editorial: Ian McKellen’s 80th birthday tour is truly national theatre, 17 November). Both he and our theatres deserve the accolade but, needless to say, here in the wilds of Essex both dates, in Hornchurch and Colchester, sold out in minutes, never mind the London venues.
Since there’s nothing like a comeback, can I put in a plea now for his encore tour (“The Ones I Never Played”) to take in our local jewel, Southend’s Palace Theatre? Wherever we may be, by then…
Richard Lee
Leigh-on-Sea, Essex
• Yes, Ian McKellen is all that you say he is, and 80 venues to mark his 80th birthday is a lovely idea. But “truly a national theatre”? Not at £80 a ticket it isn’t. Maybe the cost of a ticket in Burnley is less, but the Chichester Festival Minerva theatre is charging £80 each.
Kim Hope
Houghton Bridge, West Sussex
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