Taken from Theatre News website.
15th February 2002

The Daily Mail newspaper has reported this morning that Sir Ian McKellen shocked cast and audience members of The Play What I Wrote last night when he drunkenly climbed onto the stage at the end of the show. In the off-the-wall tribute to comedy duo Morecambe and Wise, created and performed by comedy duo The Right Size (aka Sean Foley and Hamish McColl), one of the running jokes is that McKellen (who normally never appears) is too drunk to play his part in the spoof.

On this particular occasion, however, McKellen did appear – and the inebriation was just an act, rest assured – in order to present the pair with this year’s Olivier award for Best New Comedy. The presentation was filmed to be used as part of today’s lunchtime Oliviers ceremony at the Victoria Palace Theatre as well as for the BBC2 TV broadcast on Saturday. A full list of winners for the 2002 Oliviers will be posted on Whatsonstage.com as soon as they are announced.