Sir Ian McKellen and Roger Allam star in Frank And Percy as world premiere production tours exclusively to Bath

The world premiere stage production of Frank and Percy starring Ian McKellen and Roger Allam tours to the Theatre Royal Bath exclusively this summer, appearing from Tuesday 25 July to Saturday 5 August. Old friends, three-time Olivier Award winner and television favourite, Roger Allam, and one of our greatest stage and screen actors, Ian McKellen, have re-united with director Sean Mathias, for this poignant and witty new drama about a blossoming relationship between two dog walkers.

Have you 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?

Director Sean Mathias said: “Ben Weatherill is a true young talent in the theatre. Frank and Percy explores the fragility and joy of relationships and what forges and strengthens bonds between humans, at a time when more than ever, we all need to love and support one another.”

Produced by Bill Kenwright, Frank and Percy visits the Theatre Royal Bath direct from an opening season at the Theatre Royal Windsor.

Ian McKellen, the first actor ever to top The Stage 100 list of the most influential people in British theatre, returns to the Theatre Royal Bath after last visiting in March 2019 in his one-man show, Ian McKellen On Stage with Tolkien, Shakespeare, others… and You!, also directed by Sean Mathias. The show which toured to eighty UK venues to mark his 80^th birthday and concluded with a West End run, raised more than four-million pounds with profits being donated to venues and theatre charities. His previous performances at the Theatre Royal Bath include Cowardice in 1983, Bent in 1990, Waiting for Godot in 2009 and The Syndicate in 2011. 

Ian McKellen’s unsurpassed performances as Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings trilogy made him one of the world’s biggest film stars, but in spite of that and his many iconic screen performances in box office hits such as The X-Men trilogy, he has never forsaken his first love – theatre, for which he has won countless awards. Nearly twenty years ago, Ian McKellen and Roger Allam starred together in the pantomime Aladdin for two consecutive Christmas seasons at London’s Old Vic Theatre, in 2004 and 2005.

Roger Allam is one of the UK’s favourite actors thanks to his many starring appearances on stage, television, film and radio. His numerous television credits include the first series of Game of Thrones, the last series of The Thick of It, and ten years as DI Thursday in Endeavour, which aired its final episode in March 2023. His many film credits include Pirates of the Caribbean, The Lady in the Van and two Stephen Frears’ hits The Queen and Tamara Drew. His many radio roles, include his hit series with Joanna Lumley Conversations from a Long Marriage. Meanwhile for his stage career to date, Roger Allam has won three Olivier Awards and been nominated for six.

Roger Allam’s many memorable theatre 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, starring opposite Mark Rylance. He has also performed in many productions for the National Theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe, in the West End and for the Royal Shakespeare Company, of which he is an Associate Artist. He has performed at the Theatre Royal Bath previously in Yasmina Reza’s comedy God of Carnage in 2009. 

Sean Mathias is a leading British Theatre Director, Film Director and Writer with numerous awards to his name including the Critics’ Circle Theatre Award, WhatsOnStage Award, Evening Standard Theatre Award, a Fringe First at Edinburgh and the Prix de la Jeunesse at Cannes. His multi-award-winning career includes productions at the 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 in the West End where his legendary production of Waiting for Godot played two seasons, as well as touring the UK and internationally. In 2013, following the West End, Sean directed and co-produced Two Plays in Rep on Broadway, comprising Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Pinter’s No Man’s Land.