SHE has been described as one of the most charismatic figures in English theatre, so Malvern audiences have a treat coming up when Janet McTeer strides into town on March 25.

The lady will be arriving to take the lead role in The Duchess of Malfi, a play recognised as one of the greatest in the English language. So on all fronts this should be some theatrical experience.

"I'm looking forward to it immensely," she said. "It will be the first time I've been to Malvern, although we used to have family days out in Herefordshire when I was young.

"I'm bringing my walking boots because I can't wait to get up those hills."

Her home is now in Oxfordshire, but only a few years ago Janet was living in America with the movie world at her feet.

After "coming out of nowhere", as she puts it - "my father worked for British Rail and there was no theatre in the family" - she was encouraged in drama at York Grammar School, won a place at RADA, joined the RSC and starred in several television productions, of which the prison series The Governor is probably best remembered.

She won an Olivier and a Tony for her role in Ibsen's A Doll's House and then, when it transferred to Broadway, stayed on in America to assume a perfect South Carolina accent for the part of a dotty single mother for the film Tumbleweeds.

When it earned Janet a best actress Golden Globe in 1999, the film world was her oyster. But she left it closed and returned to England.

"Hollywood isn't my cup of tea," she added.

"I find the chat show stuff embarrassing and the scripts I was offered didn't look interesting enough anyway. I decided I was never going to be A-list material and so I decided to come home."

The Duchess of Malfi is her first stage performance for five years and she's loving it.

"It's good to get back before a live audience, especially as this is one of the best roles in theatre."

Her towering presence - as nearly every article on her points out, Janet McTeer is more than 6ft tall - brings both a vulnerability and a strength to the part.

For her own interpretation, she has been digging deeper into the character's "intense and growing sense of herself".

The play, written nearly 400 years ago, charts the calamitous consequences of a young widow's refusal to obey the command of her brothers.

They forbid her to remarry, but when they discover she has a new secret love, a trap is set which leads to exile, torture, madness and eventually death.

The staging is updated to the present day, but with restraint. "There are no mobile phones or CCTV cameras and it's not set in downtown Tottenham," its star laughs.

The production features no less than 23 actors and musicians, very few of which, I would guess, will be joining Ms McTeer in a walk up the hills.

For this is a lady who goes at her own pace in her own direction.

- The Duchess of Malfi plays Malvern Festival Theatre from Tuesday, March 25, until Saturday, March 29. Tickets cost £22-£14. Box office 01684 892277.