Fans beat a path to Sienna Miller's West End return

Six years after her last performance on the London stage, Sienna Miller was mobbed by fans and photographers on her return to West End theatre.

The 29-year-old is appearing in a new production of Flare Path, by Terence Rattigan. First staged in 1942, it opens tonight at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.

Miller was persuaded to return by director Trevor Nunn.

Her last appearance in the West End, as Cecilia in As You Like It in 2005, was hammered by critics. Paul Taylor of The Independent wrote that she "approaches an emotion with the finesse of someone beating a carpet".

Notices were better for her appearance on Broadway in After Miss Julie two years ago.

The critics have yet to give their verdict on Miller's latest performance, but the audience at last night's preview was warmly appreciative of the actress whose best reviews to date have been in films such as Factory Girl and the Dylan Thomas drama The Edge of Love.

Matthew Westwood, a 37-year-old data manager from Birmingham, thought the play "excellent". He said: "I thought Sienna's performance was good and so was Sheridan Smith."

Samuel Zernig, 22, who is from Germany but now lives in Chelsea, said: "I thought it was brilliant. It was quite uplifting and the cast was amazing. Sheridan Smith was just brilliant and Sienna Miller was also really good, much better than I expected."

Niamh Shepheard, 15, an aspiring actress from Muswell Hill, saved most of her praise for Smith, who has just finished an award-winning run in the musical Legally Blonde.

She plays a barmaid called Doris alongside Miller's character, Patricia Graham, a former actress who is married to a pilot but in love with a film star played by James Purefoy.

"She was amazing," said Niamh. "Sienna Miller was all right, but I didn't really know who she was."

Her mother, Caroline, said: "I though it was brilliant, it was everything that was great about being British. Sienna was OK, but some of the other characters were more rounded."

Flare Path is the first in a series of plays being directed by Trevor Nunn as the new artistic director at the Theatre Royal.