Theatre company knew of misconduct claim against Geoffrey Rush but did nothing

Sydney Theatre Company did nothing for 18 months after an actor claimed Geoffrey Rush behaved inappropriately towards her, a court heard.

Geoffrey Rush is suing The Daily Telegraph over November 2017 articles about allegations he behaved inappropriately toward fellow cast member Eryn Jean Norvill. Picture: AAP

A lawyer for Geoffrey Rush has told the Federal Court there was never any formal complaint made against the Hollywood actor of inappropriate behaviour by a female cast member.

Rather, the allegations by actress Eryn Jean Norvill were made during an “off the record” conversation in a bar with two people from the Sydney Theatre Company in April 2016, the court heard this morning.

Rush, 67, is suing Nationwide News for defamation over a series of articles published in The Daily Telegraph in December. The articles reported the actress had made a complaint of “inappropriate behaviour” by Rush when the pair co-starred in the Sydney Theatre Company’s production of King Lear from ­November 2015 to January 2016.

Rush’s barrister, Sue Chrysanthou, told the Federal Court today that documents so far produced by the Sydney Theatre Company showed there had been no formal complaint.

“The only thing that occurred was a conversation between Ms Norvill and two people from the STC in a bar in April 2016,” she said.

Geoffrey Rush and Eryn Jean Norvill in Sydney Theatre Company’s production of King Lear. Picture Heidrun Lohr

The documents showed there was no formal investigation of the complaint at the time, and Rush was not consulted about the allegations, she said.

The first time Sydney Theatre Company executive director Patrick McIntyre had sought information about the complaint was 1½ years later, in November last year, in response to questions from a journalist.

Ms Chrysanthou said Mr McIntyre had told Daily Telegraph journalist Jonathon Moran the company had resolved never to work with Rush again and had changed its human resources policies in response to Norvill’s complaint.

The comments were made “off the record” and were “not for attribution”, she said, but Mr McIntyre had told Moran they could be published.

Ms Chrysanthou said Rush’s legal team would be arguing at the defamation trial there was “never any such decision” not to work with Rush again, and it was “false” to suggest the company’s policies had changed as a result of the complaint.

She successfully argued the Sydney Theatre Company should be forced to produce a wide range of documents ahead of the trial, scheduled to begin on October 22, to enable Rush to prove his case.