Theatre Royal Windsor's Summer Season will Feature Sir Ian McKellen and Roger Allam

Bill Kenwright will present the third Theatre Royal Windsor Summer Season under the Directorship of Sean Mathias.

The season will comprise of two world premieres Frank and Percy by Ben Weatherill starring Ian McKellen and Roger Allam (Theatre Royal Windsor Friday 9 June - Saturday 22 July 2023 and Theatre Royal Bath Tuesday 25 July - Saturday 5 August 2023) and Alone Together by Simon Williams, with casting to be announced, (Friday 4 August 2023 - Saturday 19 August 2023).

2023 will be Sean Mathias' third summer season at Theatre Royal Windsor. 2021 saw two classics with Shakespeare's Hamlet and Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard. The 2022 season had two modern classics including Frederick Knott's Dial M for Murder, Enid Bagnold's The Chalk Garden. The 2023 season will be focussed on new writing.

Director Sean Mathias said:

"I cannot believe my luck in finding not one but two charming and original new plays for the season. Ben Weatherill (Frank & Percy) is a true young talent in the theatre. And to have reunited Ian and Roger after almost 20 years since we all did Aladdin together at the Old Vic is a real coup. Both Frank and Percy, and Alone Together explore the fragility and joy of relationships in all their different forms, and what forges and strengthens bonds between humans, at a time when more than ever, we all need to love and support one another.

Producer Bill Kenwright said:

"Sean has firmly established the summer season at Theatre Royal Windsor as the highlight of our dramatic theatrical year. (We should never forget our hugely loved and much needed record-breaking annual panto!). This year it is great to be exploring two new plays from an exciting new playwright (Ben Weatherill), and a dear friend of mine and of Theatre Royal Windsor (Simon Williams) whose writing skills get better with every play of his I read.

I love for us to present new plays at Windsor, although to be honest it's not always easy in a regional theatre with no subsidy whatsoever. so I'm particularly pleased that Sean and I have chosen these two as our new adventures."

Frank and Percy

Frank and Percy is a poignant and witty take on the unexpected relationship that blossoms between two men.

Ever seen a couple of old boys on a park bench and wondered what they are chatting about?

In his new play Ben Weatherill lets us overhear Frank and Percy as they discuss the weather, then their dogs and then each other and so much more. Will the widowed schoolteacher and the elder statesman dare to risk changing their lives or let sleeping dogs lie?

Old friends, three-time Olivier Award winner Roger Allam, and one of our greatest stage and screen actors, Ian McKellen, re-unite with Director Sean Mathias, for this witty, poignant two-hander.

Alone Together

Driven by the loneliness of a dismal marriage to Colin, Angela finds comfort in a chance meeting with Jonty, a young novelist. Each have secrets to protect and pasts to work through, was it really a chance encounter?

In a world where you can be anyone online, can you really escape reality?

Casting to be announced.

Ian McKellen, the first actor ever to top The Stage 100 list of the most influential people in British theatre, returns to Windsor following his critically acclaimed performance in the titular role in Hamlet, followed by Firs in The Cherry Orchard in Sean Mathias's inaugural summer season at Theatre Royal Windsor.

Ian's unsurpassed performances as Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings films made him one of the world's biggest film stars, but in spite of that and his further iconic screen performances in such box office hits as The X-Men Trilogy he has never forsaken his first love - theatre.

His performances have won him countless awards, but most importantly to us, Ian made his Theatre Royal Windsor debut in 2019 with his one-man show Ian McKellen On Stage (also directed by Sean Mathias), which toured to 80 UK venues to mark his 80th birthday and concluded with a West End run. The tour and London performances raised more than £4m with profits being donated to venues and theatre charities.

Roger Allam has been one of this country's favourite actors for the past three decades thanks to his many starring appearances on stage, tv, film, and radio.

He has been nominated for six Olivier Awards winning three. His many memorable performances include the role of Javert in the original production of Les Misérables Michael Frayn's Democracy and the hugely successful revival of Boeing Boeing opposite Mark Rylance, as well as extensive work at the Royal Shakespeare Company (of which he is an associate artist), The National Theatre, Shakespeare's Globe, and the West End.

He has become one of our biggest tv stars appearing in the first series of Game of Thrones, the last series of The Thick if it and of course ten years as DI Thursday in Endeavour which aired its final episode this month.

On film he has featured in Pirates of the Caribbean, The Lady in the Van and two Stephen Frears hits The Queen and Tamara Drew and his many radio roles including his hit series with Joanna Lumley Conversations from a Long Marriage.

Sean Mathias is a leading British Theatre Director, Film Director, and Writer with numerous awards to his name including the WhatsOnStage Award, Evening Standard Theatre Award, the Critics' Circle Theatre Award, a Fringe First at Edinburgh, and the Prix de la Jeunesse at Cannes. His multi-award-winning career includes productions at the Royal National Theatre, The Kennedy Centre, The Mark Taper Forum, Paris, Sydney, and Cape Town, including many productions on Broadway.

In 2009/10 Sean was the Artistic Director of Theatre Royal Haymarket where his legendary production of Waiting for Godot played two seasons, as well as touring the UK and internationally. In 2013 Sean directed and co-produced Two Plays in Rep of Broadway, comprising Beckett's Godot and Pinter's No Man's Land. His production of No Man's Land, starring Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, was the highest grossing play in the history of the Wyndham's Theatre.

The plays are produced by Bill Kenwright, who, as a young actor in the 60's and 70's had been so encouraged by Theatre Royal Windsor's John Counsell, he eventually bought the famous theatre's lease when it was on the brink of administration in 1997. His company Bill Kenwright Limited has been looking after the future of this beautiful (unsubsidised) producing theatre ever since.

Further star casting for Alone Together will be announced soon.