Redmayne faces up to criticism for Cabaret role
Oscar-winner defends his casting in ‘complex’ role of Emcee in the classic musical’s West End revival
EDDIE REDMAYNE has defended his role as a sexually ambiguous character in Cabaret, insisting “the interpretation will justify the casting”.
The actor’s comments came ahead of his return to the West End for the first time in a decade for a revival of the classic musical which recreates the Germany’s Weimar-era Kit Kat Club.
Redmayne has been cast as Emcee in Cabaret opposite Jessie Buckley as Sally Bowles – a role immortalised by Liza Minnelli in the 1972 film – in a performance to run at London’s Playhouse theatre from next month. However, his casting as Emcee has drawn criticism owing to the fact the character has historically been portrayed as homosexual or bisexual. Redmayne married his childhood friend, Hannah Bagshawe, in 2014, and the couple have two children.
In British Vogue, the award-winning actor responded: “I hope when people see the performance, the interpretation will justify the casting. The way I see the character is as Mercury, as shape-shifting and a survivor.”
Speaking of taking on a musical classic, he added: “The only point in us doing it would be if we could do something different from those other productions, something new.”
This is not the first time Redmayne’s casting has prompted criticism from the LGBT+ community. His portrayal of transgender pioneer, Lili Elbe, in 2015 film The Danish Girl, sparked a backlash from the transgender community, despite critical acclaim. He revealed how much he learnt about gender and sexuality while preparing for the role.
“People were so kind and generous with their experience, but also so open. Virtually all the trans men and women I met would say, ‘Ask me anything’. They know that need for cisgender people to be educated,” he told Out magazine.
“I felt like, I’m being given this extraordinary experience of being able to play this woman, but with that comes this responsibility of not only educating myself but hopefully using that to educate [the audience]. Gosh it’s delicate, and complicated.”
His comments come amid a debate in the arts and theatre on whether LGBT, disabled and religious actors should be the only ones to play LGBT, disabled and religious characters. The Succession actor, Brian Cox, recently criticised this trend, saying that authentic casting, where roles are reserved for actors with the same lived experiences as a character, ignores the “craft of acting”.
Redmayne first played the role of Emcee 20 years ago in an Edinburgh Fringe Festival production. Ahead of reprising the role, he recalled playing the character as a teenager, saying: “I didn’t really see daylight, and became quite skeletal, and I remember finding it thrilling.”
His last West End role was as Shakespeare’s Richard II (in 2011) at the Donmar Warehouse. Redmayne, who was awarded an OBE in 2015 for his services to drama, has won a string of acting awards including an Oscar, a Tony, a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild, and a British Academy Film Award.
He has a reputation for taking on challenging roles, and his most critically acclaimed film was The Theory of Everything (2014), in which he starred as Stephen Hawking, the theoretical physicist for which he won the Oscar, Bafta, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award for best actor, depicting the debilitating challenges of motor neurone disease.
November’s ‘British Vogue’ is available digitally and on news-stands now.