ANTONY and Cleopatra returned to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre stage this week, only three years after the two most famous lovers in history last trod the boards in Stratford.

Then, Shakespeare's lovestruck pair were played by Alan Bates and Frances de la Tour. This time Stuart Wilson and Sinead Cusack bring their interpretations to the notoriously difficult roles.

For Cusack and Wilson, the gap between their last appearances in Stratford has been much longer than that of the play.

Cusack, scion of a great acting dynasty and wife of Oscar-winner Jeremy Irons, last worked with the RSC in 1986 when she played Lady Macbeth.

Wilson, who made his name in television before heading for Hollywood and movie success in films such as The Mask of Zorro, The Rock and Age of Innocence, made his last bow at Stratford as Hotspur in 1975.

"It's great to be back," said Cusack last week. "I've wanted to come back for years and years but the opportunity didn't arise."

Neither actor has played their respective parts before and they are promising that in their version, directed by RSC associate director Michael Attenborough in his final production before taking over as artistic director at the Almeida in London, the sexual sparks will fly.

"We get on famously," said Wilson. "I don't think the young have got the monopoly on being sexy. There's lots of snogging."

In fact, 54-year-old Wilson is exactly the same age as Mark Antony was at the time of his dangerous liaison.

"What Shakespeare has written is about two people who are sexually obsessed with each other," added Cusack.

After the recent critical kerfuffle over the RSC's recent off-the-wall production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare purists will be pleased that the production itself is "traditional" in that it is set in Egypt and Rome of the time.

The stage has also been pushed out into the auditorium to create an intimate space for the scenes between the two principal actors.

Some of the scenes and characters have been "conflated" so that it has a running time of three hours, including interval.

A disappointed Cusack revealed that her request to perform her death scene with a real asp was turned down. "I received a three-page memo from the RSC explaining why I couldn't have one," she said, adding with a wry smile: "My asp is credible."

Cusack, the first actor on the RSC's board of governors and a keen supporter of Adrian Noble's redevelopment plans, described the RST stage as the most difficult she had ever worked on.

"I don't think when it was built that the priority was acoustics," she said. "There are quite a few dead spots and it is difficult to get a sense of whether you voice is reaching the public."

Her co-star appeared to agree with the view of Sir Donald Sinden, a critic of the RSC plans, who recently said the problem was not the RST but the failure of modern actors to project their voices.

With the two classically-trained actors in the lead and a strong supporting cast, it is hoped that this production, at least, should have no problems making itself heard.

But will it have the necessary passion and fire that has eluded so many past productions of this play? "There has to be a degree of chemistry between the two principals. If it's not there it won't work," said Wilson.

Antony and Cleopatra runs at Stratford until July 13, after which it travels to London and to Newcastle. Tickets available from the RSC box office 01789 403403.