Sir Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart - both renowned Shakespearean actors at Stratford-upon-Avon and in the West End - head the cast of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot playing Norwich Theatre Royal this week.

Sir Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart - both renowned Shakespearean actors at Stratford-upon-Avon and in the West End - head the cast of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot playing Norwich Theatre Royal this week, nightly at 7.30pm until Saturday April 11, with matinees on Wednesday/Saturday at 2.30pm.

The pair first worked together in Tom Stoppard's Every Good Boy Deserves Favour for the RSC in 1977 and more recently in the X-Men film trilogy as Magneto and Professor X respectively.

Each of them has established their own iconic screen persona as Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings and as Star Trek's Jean-Luc Picard.

When Godot exploded on to the London stage 50 years ago it shocked as many people as it delighted.

There had never been a play like it. The scenario surrounds a couple of tramps clowning around, joking and arguing, repeating themselves, as they wait through one day and then another, waiting for the mysterious Godot.

The cast also includes Simon Callow as Pozzo and Ronald Pickup as Lucky.

t Performances are sold out, but for details of any returns call the box office on 01603 630000.