Eddie Redmayne has defended his casting as a character typically associated with LGBT actors in a production of Cabaret.
The Oscar-winning star will appear alongside Jessie Buckley at London’s Kit Kat Club in what will mark his stage return after a decade away.
Redmayne, who has been married to Hannah Bagshawe since 2014, will play the Emcee, the flamboyant master of ceremonies often portrayed by an LGBT performer.
Joel Grey, who is gay, played the Master of Ceremonies in the 1972 film version of Cabaret.
Redmayne, 39, said he hopes audiences will reserve judgment until they see him perform.
He told British Vogue: “I hope when people see the performance, the interpretation will justify the casting.
“The way I see the character is as Mercury, as shape-shifting and a survivor.”
Fantastic Beasts star Redmayne, who won the best actor Oscar for playing physicist Stephen Hawking in 2014 biopic The Theory Of Everything, revealed this is not the first time he has portrayed the Emcee.
He performed the role aged 19 in a student production at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Redmayne said: “I didn’t really see daylight, and became quite skeletal, and I remember finding it thrilling.”
On the latest production of Cabaret, he added: “The only point in us doing it would be if we could do something different from those other productions, something new.”
The November issue of British Vogue is available for digital download and on newsstands now.