Two actors rush to back claim

TWO actors who work with the Sydney Theatre Company yesterday publicly threw their support behind the actor who has accused Oscar-winner Geoffrey Rush of touching her inappropriately during the stage production of King Lear.

It comes as Rush, 66 – one of the country’s most successful actors – yesterday continued to vehemently deny claims he inappropriately touched a cast member of the local production of the classic William Shakespeare play.

Rising young actor Meyne Raoul Wyatt, who appeared in

King Lear, said he believed his cast mate’s version of events.

“I was in the show,” Wyatt, wrote on Facebook yesterday after. “I believe (the person) who has come forward.”

And Brandon McClelland, who has worked with the woman at the centre of the alleged complaint, urged others on Twitter to believe the actor. “It wasn’t a misunderstanding. It wasn’t a joke,” he posted.

The STC production of

King Lear ran from November 2015 to January 2016.

Rush issued a statement yesterday denying allegations of “inappropriate behaviour” during his time with the Sydney Theatre Company’s production of King Lear. Rush’s statement took aim at the Sydney Theatre Company, alleging it had “chosen to smear his name and unjustifiably damage his reputation”.

The statement said: “His treatment of colleagues and everyone he has worked with is always conducted with respect and the utmost propriety.”