Early work Beale first came to the attention of theatre-goers in the late 1980s with a series of lauded comic performances, which were on occasion extremely
camp, in such plays as
The Man of Mode by
George Etherege and
Restoration by
Edward Bond at the
Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). He broadened his range in the early 1990s with moving performances as Konstantin in
Chekhov's
The Seagull, as Oswald in
Ibsen's
Ghosts, Ferdinand in
The Duchess of Malfi and as Edgar in
King Lear. At the first annual
Ian Charleson Awards in January 1991, he received a special commendation for his 1990 performances of Konstantin in
The Seagull,
Thersites in
Troilus and Cressida and Edward II in
Edward II, all at the RSC. It was at the RSC that he first worked with
Sam Mendes, who directed him as Thersites in
Troilus and Cressida, as
Richard III and as
Ariel in
The Tempest, in the last of which he revealed a fine tenor voice. Mendes also directed him as
Iago in
Othello at the
Royal National Theatre and in Mendes's farewell productions at the
Donmar Warehouse in 2002, Chekhov's
Uncle Vanya, in which Beale played the title role, and
Twelfth Night, in which he played
Malvolio. He won the 2003
Laurence Olivier Award for
Uncle Vanya. Since 1995, he has been a regular at the National Theatre, where his roles have included Mosca in
Ben Jonson's
Volpone opposite
Michael Gambon, George in
Tom Stoppard's
Jumpers and the lead in
Humble Boy by Charlotte Jones, a part written specially for him. In 1997, he played the pivotal role of
Kenneth Widmerpool in a television adaptation of
Anthony Powell's
A Dance to the Music of Time, for which he won the Best Actor award at the
British Academy Television Awards in 1998. The following year, he was a key part of
Trevor Nunn's ensemble, playing in
Leonard Bernstein's
Candide (Voltaire/Pangloss), his "delivery of the lines [...] true to
Voltaire in that it is simultaneously hilarious and horrible",
Edward Bulwer-Lytton's
Money and
Maxim Gorky's
Summerfolk at the National. In autumn 2006, he played
Galileo in
David Hare's adaption of
Brecht's
Life of Galileo and as Face in
The Alchemist.
2000s In 2000, he played Hamlet in a production directed by John Caird for the National Theatre, a role for which he was described by
The Daily Telegraph as "portly [and] relatively long in the tooth". In 2005, Beale was directed by
Deborah Warner as Cassius in
Julius Caesar alongside
Ralph Fiennes as Antony. That same year, he played the title role in
Macbeth at the Almeida Theatre. In 2007, he reprised his 2005
Broadway role as
King Arthur in the
Monty Python musical
Spamalot at the
Palace Theatre, London. From December 2007 to March 2008, he played Benedick in
Much Ado About Nothing directed by
Nicholas Hytner at the National Theatre and from February to July 2008, he played Andrew Undershaft in Hytner's production of Shaw's
Major Barbara; he then appeared in
Harold Pinter's
A Slight Ache and
Landscape. In 2008, he made his debut as a television presenter, fronting the
BBC series
Sacred Music with
Harry Christophers and
The Sixteen. Various specials and a second series have since been produced; the most recent episode
(Monteverdi in Mantua: The Genius of the Vespers) was broadcast in 2015. In spring 2009, Beale and Sam Mendes collaborated on ''
The Winter's Tale and The Cherry Orchard'', in which Beale played Leontes and Lopakhin respectively, at the
Brooklyn Academy of Music, later transferring to the
Old Vic Theatre. From 2009 to 2010, he played
George Smiley in the
BBC Radio 4 adaptation of all the
John le Carré novels in which Smiley featured. These were broadcast in nineteen 90-minute or 60-minute full cast radio plays. From March to June 2010, he played Sir Harcourt Courtly in
London Assurance, again at the National. In August 2010, he appeared in the first
West End revival of
Deathtrap by
Ira Levin. In March 2011, he made his debut with
The Royal Ballet in ''
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as the Duchess. In October 2011, he returned to the National to star as Joseph Stalin in the premiere of Collaborators'', for which he won Best Actor at the 2012
Evening Standard Awards.
2010s In 2010–11, Beale played the Coalition
Home Secretary William Towers in the two final series of
BBC One's spy drama,
Spooks. He played the title role in
Timon of Athens at the National Theatre from July to October 2012. The production was broadcast to cinemas around the world (as was
Collaborators earlier) on 1 November 2012 through the
National Theatre Live programme. He starred in a revival of
Peter Nichols'
Privates on Parade as part of
Michael Grandage's new
West End season at the
Noël Coward Theatre from December 2012 to March 2013. In 2013, he won the
British Academy Television Award (BAFTA) for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Falstaff in the BBC's
The Hollow Crown series of TV films about Shakespeare's historical dramas
Richard II;
Henry IV, Part 1; Henry IV, Part 2; and
Henry V. That same year he appeared in
National Theatre Live: 50 Years On Stage (2013). Beale appeared alongside
John Simm in
Harold Pinter's
The Hothouse at the
Trafalgar Studios from May to August 2013, directed by
Jamie Lloyd. From January 2014, he played the title role in
King Lear at the National Theatre, directed once again by Sam Mendes. Also from 2014 to 2016 he starred as a main cast member in Showtime's
Penny Dreadful, in which he played an eccentric Egyptologist. In 2014, Beale was appointed the Cameron Mackintosh Professor of Contemporary Theatre at
Oxford University, based at
St Catherine's College. From May to July 2015, he starred in
Temple, a new play at the
Donmar Warehouse about the
2011 United Kingdom anti-austerity protests. In September and October 2015, he played
Samuel Foote in ''
Mr Foote's Other Leg'' at the
Hampstead Theatre. It transferred to the
Theatre Royal Haymarket from October 2015 to January 2016. In November 2016, Beale returned to the
Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, to play Prospero in
The Tempest. In June 2017, it transferred to the
Barbican Centre in London. In July 2018, Beale returned to the National, starring opposite
Ben Miles and
Adam Godley in
The Lehman Trilogy, again directed by Mendes. It transferred to the
Piccadilly Theatre in the West End in May 2019. Beale starred in the title role of
Richard II at the
Almeida Theatre from December 2018 to February 2019.
2020s During the
COVID-19 pandemic, Beale contributed as a guest speaker to ''
The Show Must Go Online's
performance of Timon of Athens''. In the summer of 2021, Beale played
JS Bach in the world première of Nina Raine's
Bach and Sons, directed by frequent collaborator
Nicholas Hytner at his company's Bridge Theatre in London. During this time he re-rehearsed for the post-COVID return in late September of the
Broadway transfer of the National Theatre production of
The Lehman Trilogy whose run had been halted on 12 March 2020 by the pandemic. Beale reprised his role (along with
Adam Godley) but, due to stage commitments in London for the RSC in the third part of the
Wolf Hall trilogy,
Ben Miles was replaced by
Adrian Lester. Beale won a
Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance in
The Lehman Trilogy. In April 2023, it was announced that Beale had been cast as Ser
Simon Strong in the second season of
House of the Dragon. In April 2025, Beale returned to the Royal Shakespeare Company to play the title role in
Titus Andronicus in the
Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, directed by Max Webster. == Personal life ==