Kenneth Branagh is back on stage

(LONDON, England) - Kenneth Branagh is set to return to the stage Tuesday for the first time in 10 years. And everyone wants to see him. <br><br>The Belfast-born actor is due to appear in the lead role

Tuesday, March 19th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(LONDON, England) - Kenneth Branagh is set to return to the stage Tuesday for the first time in 10 years. And everyone wants to see him.

The Belfast-born actor is due to appear in the lead role in a sellout production of William Shakespeare's "Richard III," which opens Tuesday night at the Crucible Theater in the northern English city of Sheffield.

Branagh, 41, who last strode the stage as Hamlet in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of Shakespeare's classic in 1992, is being paid the same as all other cast members -- slightly above the 278 pounds ($417) a week minimum demanded by the actors' union Equity, the spokesman said.

Branagh was nominated for Academy Awards for both best actor and best director for "Henry V" in 1989 and went on to direct big-screen adaptations of other Shakespeare works, "Much Ado About Nothing," "Hamlet," and "Love's Labor's Lost."

The actor trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and has always loved the stage.

Branagh has now signed to play Professor Gilderoy Lockhart in the film adaptation of the second of J.K. Rowling's hit books, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets."