Geoffrey Rush has withdrawn from the Australian production of Shakespeare鈥檚 Twelfth Night, scheduled for the fall, due to an ongoing defamation case, according to . The show, in which Rush was tapped to star as Malvolio, was in November.
鈥淒ue to my current circumstances and medical advice, I must withdraw from the upcoming project of Twelfth Night,鈥� Rush said in a statement distributed by MTC and published in The Australian. 鈥淚 do so with the greatest regret. I know that I would not be able to provide the necessary creative spirit and the professional stamina required for the project.鈥�
Rush is currently suing Sydney newspaper the Daily Telegraph for defamation over articles that alleged the actor was involved in 鈥渋nappropriate behavior鈥� during a Sydney Theatre Company production of King Lear in 2015.
Rush is an Oscar-winning stage and screen actor known for the films The King's Speech, Shine, and the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, among others. He adapted and starred in a Melbourne production of Eugene Ionesco's Exit the King in 2007, which transferred to Broadway in 2009 and won Rush a Tony.
