One of Britain's greatest interpreters of Shakespeare, both on stage (where he was the RSC's youngest-ever Henry V) and on film - where he emulated Laurence Olivier by making a name as a director and star of Shakespeare on screen - Kenneth Branagh turns 41 Dec. 11—an age which, given the fact that he was storming the West End with his Renaissance Theatre Company back in the mid 1980s, seems ridiculously young for someone who has achieved so much.

His best birthday present must be the box office returns for The Play What I Wrote, the Morecambe and Wise tribute show with surprise celebrity guest that he directed and which is doing wonderful business at Wyndham's Theatre.

Branagh is also continuing with his cinema career - appearing in the near future in a Channel 4 film about the explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton - but the stage remains his real home and the success at Wyndham's is a much-deserved return to theatrical form.

—by Paul Webb Theatrenow