What Cate did next...

It is a notoriously demanding role, and only the finest actresses have been able to do it justice.

Now Cate Blanchett has joined the pantheon of revered actresses - including Glenda Jackson, Dame Maggie Smith and Ingrid Bergman - who have taken on Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler.

The Oscar-nominated Australian, 35, returned to the Sydney stage for her first performance in the nine-week sell-out production.

She plays the lead character in the 1890 study of a tragic heroine who feels utterly constrained by marriage and social mores and will do anything she can to break away. Manipulative to the core, she dictates the fates of all who surround her, from her confidant - played by Hugo Weaving, Blanchett's co-star in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy - to her unfortunate husband.

She is earning rave reviews for her performance. The Australian newspaper said: "From the moment Cate Blanchett sets foot on the stage there is no mistaking you are watching something extraordinary. She is magnetic."

Robyn Nevin, who is directing the Sydney Theatre Company production and has herself played Gabler on stage, said: "For me, Cate Blanchett is Hedda Gabler. She's an extraordinarily intuitive, imaginative and inventive actress so she has many Hedda qualities.

"She also has a great ability to be very playful in the rehearsal room."

When asked whether directing international stars like Weaving and Blanchett was intimidating, Nevin said: "When you go into a rehearsal room with Ibsen, your main challenge is Ibsen."

The combination of Blanchett, Weaving and, of course, Ibsen is one that any West End producer would fight to bring to London. Sadly that appears unlikely, at least in the short term. Less than 24 hours after the show's run ends in September the two stars will begin work on a new movie, a thriller called Little Fish.

Blanchett was nominated for an Oscar for her lead role in the 1998 film Elizabeth. She last appeared on the London stage in the Almeida Theatre Company's production of Plenty in 1999.