Sir Simon Russell Beale has revealed that he is currently undergoing chemotherapy while also touring with the Royal Shakespeare Company after being diagnosed with bowel cancer earlier this year.
The House of the Dragon star and Olivier winner revealed his diagnosis in April after being forced to drop out of the RSC’s production of Titus Andronicus at the Hampstead Theatre in September.
In a new interview, Beale has revealed that he’s easing himself back into work and is expected to make a full recovery, but said he found himself in intensive care before receiving a diagnosis.
Speaking to The Telegraph, the actor, 65, explained that doctors found a blockage in his gut, which made him “very ill”, and he was sent to the ICU while they carried out medical checks. “Actually, I rather liked being in intensive care,” he said.
“Everything is done for you and, although I couldn’t read much, I was able to listen to music. But, of course, at that point I didn’t know I had cancer.”
He has since started chemotherapy, from which he’s had “very few side effects”. Beale added: “The weight loss is great. My voice has gone a bit foggy from the drugs, but there are ways of supporting that.”
He is currently starring as the narrator in the RSC’s puppet production of Venus and Adonis, which he described as the “perfect” role while he’s recovering. “I can sit down for the whole thing and the text is in front of me,” he added.
When asked whether he felt scared while in intensive care, Beale said that people said he “seemed to be very jolly”, but only because he hadn’t yet considered death as an outcome. “I had one moment when I asked the consultant, ‘Am I going to die?’ And he said, ‘Nonsense.’ So I’ve refused to acknowledge that [possibility],” he said.
“I mean, for all of us there will be a time when we do have to, but I’m not quite ready. They said they could cure it, and I thought, ‘Great.’”
Beale, who started his acting career on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company, is a three-time Olivier Award winner, having received gongs for his performances in 1996 comedy Volpone, 2000 musical Candide and a 2003 production of Uncle Vanya. On screen, he played Napoleon in Blackadder: Back & Forth and has appeared in The Death of Stalin, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale and House of the Dragon, playing Ser Simon Strong in season two.
Beale was described by The Independent as “the greatest stage actor of his generation” back in 2008, ahead of starring in George Bernard Shaw’s Major Barbara at the National Theatre.
He is currently touring the Oxford Playhouse, London’s Barbican and York Theatre Royal with Venus and Adonis.
