Words from Ian McKellen

Pedro Calderon de la Barca, (1600-1681) wrote 126 verse plays "this being one of the more celebrated, a melodrama of honour and revenge. As the lascivious Captain Don Alvaro, my most notable contribution to the passionate tale was to swing Isabel (Vivienne Martin) around the stage, our arms stretched out, misjudging the arc of the move and consequently throwing her into the front row of the stalls.

This ran in repertoire with "Semi-Detached". When I went to see my new colleagues' efforts, I felt smug that I had been in the premiere production at Coventry (1962).