Simon Russell Beale says he is challenging himself by starring in two new plays to avoid “getting into a rut”.
He will play forgotten performer Samuel Foote, who was popular in Georgian London, in Mr Foote’s Other Leg. The play, written by Ian Kelly and directed by Richard Eyre, will open at Hampstead Theatre on September 14.
Russell Beale, 54, is also starring in Temple, written by Steve Waters and inspired by the Occupy London movement, which opens on Thursday at the Donmar Warehouse.
He told the Standard: “[With] any job there’s a danger of getting into a rut, you just have to shake yourself and find yourself.”
He added: “It’s an interesting year for me this year because it’s two new plays I’m doing and I’m known for doing classical plays, it’s good for me ... It doesn’t get any easier.” He said he hoped to put Foote, a satirist, impressionist and comedian who has been forgotten by history, “back where he should be”.
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Hampstead Theatre’s autumn season also includes David Hare’s The Moderate Soprano, about John Christie and his construction of Glyndebourne. It stars Roger Allam and opens on October 23.
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