Nicole to return to West End

Nicole Kidman is preparing to return to the London stage for the first time in seven years - and if next year's West End run is anything like her 1997 debut it will be the theatrical event of the year.

Kidman, 38, plans to star as one of drama's most compelling heroines: the tragically unhappy and manipulative beauty Hedda Gabler.

It is understood that after recent discussions between her agent and a top West End producer, Kidman has decided that either the spring or summer of next year is the time to make her return to the London stage.

A source said that the production will probably be directed by Daniel Kramer, the long-term partner of actor Simon Callow.

Kramer is a protegé of Sir Trevor Nunn, with whom he worked as associate director of Lord Lloyd-Webber's most recent musical, The Woman In White.

For Kidman's triumphant debut, she played five different characters in the awardwinning, play The Blue Room at The Donmar. As well as sparking a frantic rush to the box office, she garnered rave reviews. The Daily Telegraph's Charles Spencer described her as "pure theatrical viagra" - a phrase that became instantly notorious.

He also wrote: "The vision of her wafting around the stage with a fag in one hand and her knickers in the other as a delicious French au pair will haunt my fantasies for months."

But Kidman is unlikely to be dressed so scantily again unless Mr Kramer comes up with an astonishingly radical production. Ibsen's play requires Hedda Gabler to be fully dressed at all times.