Ian McKellen, Thomas More, Shakespeare, and The Strangers’ Case

There really is nothing new under the sun. Man’s “mountainous inhumanity” is something that’s always been with us. We constantly need to remind ourselves of that when it comes to our current moment, especially as relates to our current ICE capades.

Ian McKellen appeared recently on The Late Night With Stephen Colbert for an extended interview in which he recited a 400-year-old monologue from the play Sir Thomas Moore, that speaks to directly to the plight of immigrants. 

You can watch the clip below. It should be cued to the monologue. In case it’s not, the monologue begins at roughly 22:16 in the 26 minutes interview. Naturally I’d recommend watching the entire thing.

https://youtu.be/2l2RqzVG4ag?si=uOecL5UcZJAroIrg

For an intriguing bit of context, the play largely thought to have been originally written by Anthony Munday and Henry Chettle, but contains pages attributed to Shakespeare and others in what was largely a collaborative effort over time as it passed from troupe to troupe. Which is when Shakespeare would have entered the picture. Of course, Shakespeare’s authorship has been debated as it always is. If interested, you can check out a Wikipedia entry on the play and its history that will give you some idea.

McKellen stepped into the play for the first time in 1964 after the original actor left the production due to artistic differences. 

Setting aside authorship debates, the 400-year-old speech certainly speaks to our current moment as it has through generations, even if the play has been rarely performed live in its 400-year-old history.

You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.