STC has smeared my name, says Oscar-winner Geoffrey Rush

Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush has accused the nation’s largest theatre company of smearing his name.

A billposter of Geoffrey Rush promoting the 2018 Melbourne Theatre Company season. The poster has been vandalised accusing Rush of inappropriate behaviour.

Oscar-winning actor Geoffrey Rush yesterday accused the ­nation’s largest theatre company of smearing his name after The Daily Telegraph reported an ­accusation he had engaged in “inappropriate behaviour” during a recent Sydney Theatre Company production.

The allegation relates to Rush’s portrayal of King Lear in a high-profile, 2015-16 production for the STC.

Rush, one of few actors to have garnered Academy, Emmy and Tony awards, firmly rejected the allegation, saying in a statement drafted by his lawyers that he “abhors any form of maltreatment of any person’’.

The statement, issued by Rush’s lawyers HWL Ebsworth, also said: “It is a great disappointment to Mr Rush the STC has chosen to smear his name and unjustifiably damage his reputation in this way.’’

The Australian can reveal that the actor, who won a Best Actor Oscar for his role in the 1996 film Shine, was targeted in defamatory posters in inner Melbourne recently. The posters, which featured the actor promoting the Melbourne Theatre Company’s 2018 season, were scrawled with graffiti claiming: “Geoffrey Rush is a sexual predator’’.

An MTC spokeswoman said the company “was made aware of one poster that had graffiti on an image of Geoffrey Rush advertising MTC’s 2018 season, so we contacted the distribution company to have it removed, as is our standard practice”.

“This is the only instance of graffiti on MTC posters featuring Geoffrey Rush that we are aware of and don’t know who was responsible,’’ she said.

Last month Rush told The Australian: “I am unaware of any deliberate smear campaign regarding a defaced poster which I have not seen. I assume it to be a case of random vandalism.’’

One source, who did not want to be named, told The Australian she had seen multiple defamatory posters in inner Melbourne.

As for the King Lear complaint, the actor’s lawyers revealed that “to date, Mr Rush or any of his representatives have not received any representations from the STC or the complainant’’. The actor said he had phoned senior STC management “the moment I became aware of rumours of a complaint … They refused to illuminate me with the details.’’ The statement said this refusal, combined with the STC’s release of such information to the public, was “a denial of natural justice’’.

Yesterday, the STC confirmed it had been asked by a News Corp journalist “whether it had received a complaint alleging inappropriate behaviour by Mr Rush while employed by the company. STC responded truthfully that it had received such a complaint ... STC has at all times been clear that this was an allegation made to (not by) STC, and not a conclusion of impropriety.’’