Sir Ian McKellen of ‘LOTR’ Uses App to Teach Shakespeare

Wizard Gandalf in "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, Sir Ian McKellen, is working on a project that will make Shakespeare more comprehensible to the common people. He is building an app that the millennial can use to understand his classic plays. He calls the app as enjoyable and fun as it is also educational. 

Heuristic Shakespeare is an app developed by Sir Ian McKellen that will make Shakespeare's 37 plays downloadable on iPad. "The Heuristic Shakespeare collection was created for you, whether you are studying Shakespeare for the first time, preparing for an exam, or you just want to have a better understanding of his work," said the app's description on its website.

In the beginning of his career, Sir Ian McKellen performed plays written by Shakespeare as part of Royal Shakespeare Company. Shakespeare's plays were an important part of Lancashire community where his literature was deeply ingrained into their culture. "I first went when I was eight or nine to see my sister in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream,'" he said.

As the times have changed today and as the digital media takes precedence over other forms of reading, Sir Ian McKellen recognizes a gap between availability of Shakespeare literature for the today's generation to learn. With this idea in mind, he decided to bring stories to an app.

When the app was launched, "The Tempest," was the first play to be delivered believed to have been published by Shakespeare back in 1610. As the actors perform the play, the users are allowed to switch the play to three different levels understand fully what is going on. Users can also gain access to the explanation of play's costume, themes and other such aspects of literature with the help of professor Sir Jonathan Bate.