KEVIN SPACEY - MCKELLEN RESCUES SPACEY'S THEATRE

British actor SIR IAN McKELLEN stepped in to rescue KEVIN SPACEY's troubled London theatre on Saturday (18DEC04) - by playing a show-stealing pantomime dame.

Spacey's Old Vic theatre has been plagued by misfortune after CLOACA, his first production as artistic director, received a critical mauling and his comments about noisy audiences attracted negative publicity.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS star McKellen was under pressure to revive the theatre's reputation after the first performance of ALADDIN was halted on Friday (17DEC04) due to technical problems.

But McKellen's camp portrayal as Aladdin's WIDOW TWANKY played to sold-out audiences on Saturday (18DEC04) and attracted glowing reviews.