ACCLAIMED actor Simon Russell Beale has been named as the next Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre at Oxford University.

The actor and music historian, who has recently appeared in Disney’s Into The Woods, will succeed Stephen Fry next month and will be based at St Catherine’s College.

Mr Russell Beale, 54, has taken on some of the most distinguished roles in the theatre, including the title roles in Shakespeare plays King Lear and Hamlet.

He was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2003 for services to the arts.

From May to July, he will star in Temple, a new play at the Donmar Warehouse in London about the 2011 riots.

The Visiting Professorship has previously been held by famous actors, writers, directors and producers, including Stephen Sondheim, Arthur Miller, Alan Ayckbourn, Richard Eyre, and Patrick Stewart.

Mr Russell Beale said: “I am looking forward to my year as Visiting Professor and feel very honoured to have been asked.

“It allows me to indulge, even further, my obsessive interest in Shakespeare and his contemporaries and I hope the students I meet will enjoy our time working together.”

“I know for certain that I will learn a huge amount.”

Prof Roger Ainsworth, Master of St Catherine’s College, added: “Simon’s impressive list of stage and screen acting credits span a remarkably diverse career, which has included theatre, television, film and radio. Our students will be very fortunate indeed to have the opportunity to learn from such a versatile actor.”

As part of his visiting professorship, Mr Russell Beale will speak at a public event, at a date that is yet to be fixed, and will also lead a number of student-focused workshops.

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