Tom Hiddleston uses London’s stage to keep himself sharp (LONDON EVENING STANDARD)

Tom Hiddleston: could return to a London stage (Picture: Getty)

Alistair Foster

28 March 2013

Actor Tom Hiddleston is one of Britain’s hottest Hollywood exports — but he is eyeing a return to the West End stage to keep his skills honed.

The star, set to reprise his role as Loki in Thor: The Dark World, says his north London flat’s kitchen table is groaning under the weight of theatre scripts.

Hiddleston, 32, always kept one toe in the West End during his rapid rise, with his last outing being The Kingdom of Earth at the Criterion Theatre last year.

He said: “My table in the kitchen is where I work and read scripts — and it’s literally littered with plays right now. I’m on different, modern things, American classics, Shakespeare, Jacobean stuff. I really want to find something big and meaty and exciting.

“Theatre tests you. It stops you being insecure with the film set idea of action and cut.

READ MORE: http://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-news/film-star-tom-hiddleston-uses-londons-stage-to-keep-himself-sharp-8553208.html

James McAvoy says having sister co-star in Filth was most uncomfortable moment of his career (DAILY RECORD)

THE Scots star's younger sister Joy, known for her appearances in The Angels' Share and The Wee Man, falls victim to McAvoy's crazed character in the Irvine Welsh adaptation.

JAMES McAVOY says the most uncomfortable moment of his career was threatening his little sister Joy on camera.

The pair feature together for the first time in the movie version of Filth, the best-selling novel by Irvine Welsh.

McAvoy, 33, plays crazed policeman Bruce Robertson and Joy is a florist who he confronts when she becomes a murder suspect.

He said: “It was weird.

“I had to threaten her violently and ever so slightly sexually as well. That was well weird.”

McAvoy said he is proud of his sister, who is carving out an impressive reputation thanks to roles in The Angels’ Share and The Wee Man.

READ MORE: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/james-mcavoy-sister-co-star-irvine-1755511

Old photos of a teenage Daniel Day-Lewis show hints of Lincoln By Soraya Roberts | The Juice – 23 hours ago

Want to see Daniel Day-Lewis as a 16-year-old? No, it's not his latest acting role -- this is the three-time Oscar winner as an actual teenager.

Photos have emerged of the 55-year-old "Lincoln" star in some of his first roles: as a Lincoln-esque Russian soldier Alexander Vershinin in Chekhov's "Three Sisters," and as a long-haired Feste in Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night."

Day-Lewis transferred to Bedales, a creative independent school in Hampshire, England, in his early teens, and the move reportedly led to his film debut as a 14-year-old vandal in "Sunday Bloody Sunday." After graduating in 1975, he attended the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.


READ MORE: http://ca.omg.yahoo.com/blogs/the-juice-celeb-news/old-photos-teenage-daniel-day-lewis-show-hints-164546383.html

David Tennant: A PIANIST’S dying wish has been fulfilled after the actor David Tennant used his skull in a performance of Shakespeare's Hamlet. (INDEPENDENT)

By Stephen Adams – 28 February 2013

When André Tchaíkowsky died of cancer in 1982 aged 46 he donated his body for medical science.

David Tennant has used the skull of a former pianist in performances of Hamlet at Stratford

But he added the proviso that his skull "shall be offered by the institution receiving my body to the Royal Shakespeare Company for use in theatrical performance."

Since then it has only been used in rehearsals because no actor felt comfortable enough using it on stage in front of an audience.

David Howells, curator of the RSC's archives, said: "In 1989 the actor Mark Rylance rehearsed with it for quite a while but he couldn't get past the fact it wasn't Yorick's, it was André Tchaíkowsky's."

Now, unbeknownst to the paying public, Dr Who actor Tennant has used the skull in 22 performances of Hamlet in Stratford-upon-Avon.

- See more at: http://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/pianists-dying-wish-fulfilled-as-david-tennant-uses-his-skull-in-hamlet-performance-29101090.html#sthash.xXuQLYxy.dpuf