Ian McKellen's Hamlet, aged 81: it's madness but there's method in it
Arts & Entertainment
Hamlet starring Sir Ian McKellen
Kickstarting UK theatre's return post-Covid
In June 2020, we delivered the first sign that UK theatre was on its way back after the Covid-19 blackout, announcing the country’s first major production to restart rehearsals: Bill Kenwright’s production of Hamlet, starring Sir Ian McKellen and directed by Sean Mathias at the Theatre Royal Windsor. We then devised and executed a historic global publicity campaign for the production’s run in 2021.
The announcement had huge impact spanning national and broadcast media as well as the trades in over 500 outlets and received page 3 coverage in the Times and Guardian and inspired impassioned op-eds in the Telegraph and Observer among coverage in every other major UK title. It even made a dent on Liverpool’s league title triumph - trending on Twitter amidst a sea of red.
The publicity campaign for the show’s production run garnered major feature coverage from every major UK outlet and widespread international attention, engaging talent from across the production and carefully managing messaging around Sir Ian McKellen’s status as cultural icon to ensure that each profile was original, in-depth and inspired sustained national interest in Shakespeare and Hamlet in particular, and cement the production’s status as an historic event in British theatre.
500 pieces of coverage
for Hamlet's press launch and the story gained international attention.
Coverage included BBC News, Independent, Metro, Evening Standard, Observer, Telegraph, Times, and Mail.
Twitter trended with topics related to Sir Ian McKellen.
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