Simon Russell Beale has had to withdraw from Titus Andronus on health grounds. John Hodgkinson has replaced him.
Saying Simon Russell Beale is a good Shakespearean actor is like saying Lewis Hamilton can drive a car quickly: it’s true, but it doesn’t really begin to convey the level he’s operating at. And when it was announced earlier this year that Beale would take on the title role in all-time gorefest Titus Andronicus for the RSC, the reviews practically wrote themselves: of course it was bloody great (in all sense). And after a successful stint in Stratford-upon-Avon, this is a coup from the small-ish Hampstead Theatre which bags the transfer of Max Webster’s modern dress production – presumably in no small part due to having had Beale in recenty for last year’s The Invention of Love. Gird your loins for what’s going to be a queasy ride.