Richard McCabe
| Richard McCabe | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1960 Glasgow, Scotland |
Richard McCabe (born 1960) is a Scottish actor.
[edit] Biography
Richard (Bill) McCabe was born in Glasgow to a Scottish father and French mother (Richard is his Equity name). He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), where he won several awards. Following the early death of his father and his mother's re-marriage, he grew up in Sussex where he still lives. His partner is costume designer, Fotini Dimou.
Although he has appeared in several high-profile films, McCabe is primarily a classical actor and has been an Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) since 1997. He is also an accomplished musician and composer and plays various keyboards including the piano and the accordion. He was a member of Ten Pole Tudor in the 1980s, before their chart topping success with 'Swords of a Thousand Men', and always intended to be a musician rather than an actor.
Following a national tour, he is currently playing Jim Hacker in "Yes, Prime Minister" in London's West End (at Gielguid since end of September. McCabe plays opposite Simon Williams as Sir Humphrey. Commissioned by Chichester Festival Theatre from Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay to mark the 30th anniversary of the television series, the original production closed in January after a sell out season in London's West End. McCabe's strong stage presence, fine comic timing and expressive face means he is a fine successor to the late Paul Eddington who created Hacker, and to David Haigh who played the role in Chichester.
This play will close in November and be re-cast for a second national tour. At this stage McCabe will be filming a new series of Wallender in Sweden, and in February 2012 will return to the Young Vic to repeat his role of Ben Jonson alongside Patrick Stewart (as Shakespeare) in Edward Bond's Bingo.
In the summer of 2010, this was one of three roles McCabe memorably played at Chichester Festival in their Minerva (studio) theatre. Firstly in the spring, his Ben Jonson was described as "memorably bilious" and a "self-mocking drunk who veers from cynicism to nihilism" by Benedict Nightingale in The Times. Seeing him on stage alongside Stewart is one of theatre goer's dreams. From July he appeared in the double bill of Stoppard and Sheridan: in Tom Stoppard's "The Real Inspector Hound" he played Moon, the critic (given four stars by Libby Purves in The Times and described as "hunched, myopic and resentful" with "flat feet and bad hair") and in Richard Sheridan's "The Critic", he played the lead role of Puff resplendent in gold, green and pink, with an enormous powdered wig. Again Purves: "McCabe, abandoning his slump, demonstrates his comic versatility as a very camp Puff, waving a conductor's baton over the surly cast and ill-advised props" in Puff's heroic-patriotic drama about the Spanish Armada. In The Sunday Times McCabe was described by Robert Hewison as "glorious". These plays closed at the end of August. In his previous appearance at Chichester, McCabe played the title role in Molière's Scapino, 2005.
His greatest successes have come from his regular performances in leading roles for the RSC. One of his great strengths is an ability to play both comedy (many RSC roles) and tragedy (title role in Hamlet and Flamineo in Webster's The White Devil) with equal impact. In addition he has a fine speaking voice, wonderful diction and a strong stage presence. At the end of February 2010, he completed the role of Sir Toby Belch in RSC's Twelfth Night, directed by Gregory Doran. This was at the Duke of York's in London's West End, following its run in Stratford the previous autumn. He played alongside Nancy Carroll as Viola, Alexandra Gilbreath as Olivia (nominated for an Olivier Award), James Fleet as Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Richard Wilson as Malvolio.
His more recent films include The Duchess (2008) The Constant Gardener (2005), Master and Commander (2003), Notting Hill (1999) and the BBC TV's Jane Eyre (2007).
McCabe's most outstanding RSC performances include Iago in Othello, directed by Michael Attenborough in 1999 opposite Ray Fearon in the title role, and his King John for the 2006 production directed by Josie Rourke (part of the Complete Works Festival). His roles at the Royal National Theatre have included Ford in the Merry Wives of Windsor (Olivier, directed by Terry Hands, 1995), Fainall in Congreve's The Way of the World (Lyttelton, Phyllida Lloyd, 1995), Michael Crowley in the rarely performed Absolute Hell by Rodney Ackland with Judi Dench in the lead role (Lyttelton, Anthony Page, 1995) and Herald/Narrator in Marat/Sade (Olivier, Jeremy Sams, 1997).
His Hamlet for Birmingham Rep. (Bill Alexander, 1998) was revived for a national UK tour in 2000 and featured at the Elsinore Hamlet Festival at Elsinore Castle in 2001.
In 2002 he was acclaimed as Mephistophiles in Marlowe's Doctor Faustus at the Young Vic with Jude Law in the title role. His first great success with the RSC - which brought him to the notice of both the critics and the public - was as Puck in John Caird's anarchic Midsummer Night's Dream in 1989 (RST). He created the role of Christopher Marlowe in Peter Whelan's School of Night (TOP, 1992). Other roles with the RSC include Autolycus in The Winter's Tale (Adrian Noble, RST, 1992), nominated for an Olivier award as Best Supporting Actor in a Revival; Tranio in The Taming of the Shrew (Bill Alexander, RST, 1992); Flamineo in Webster's The White Devil (Deborah Warner, Swan, 1997); Thersites in Troilus and Cressida (Ian Judge, RST, 1997) and Apemantus in "Timon of Athens" (Gregory Doran, RST, 1999). McCabe has also performed classical roles in many of Great Britain's major playhouses such as the Sheffield Crucible, Bolton Octagon, Plymouth Theatre Royal, Leeds Playhouse, Birmingham Rep and Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre.
McCabe has played some distinguished roles in radio plays and also Caliban (The Tempest) and Edgar (King Lear) for Shakespeare audio tapes series, the latter with Paul Scofield as Lear, recorded in 2001.
McCabe's recent TV roles include the major role of Nyberg the pathologist in BBC One's Wallander based on Henning Mankell's bestselling detective novels. He played Eddington's best friend Frank Dyson in BBC One's award winning play Einstein and Eddington starring David Tennant and Andy Serkis (2008). He has also appeared in BBC One's "Spooks" (November 2009); an episode of Midsomer Murders entitled Four Funerals and a Wedding (2008) and Lewis, broadcast in March 2008. In the 1990s, he played in several TV dramas, such as "Killer Net" and "Trial and Retribution", and three episodes of "The Bill".
