ACTOR Jeffrey Dench makes a welcome return to the stage in Stratford next week, when he plays the pivotal role of Chorus in Henry V - The Battle of Agincourt.

However, Jeffrey, who lives at Clifford Chambers, will not be making his comeback at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, his acting "home" for 23 years, but at King Edward VI School, Shakespeare's old school.

He is appearing in Generator's ensemble production of John Barton's adaptation based on the Bard's Henry V, which he first appeared in when it was originally staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1969.

The new production, which has already been performed in Warwick, Solihull and at the Rose Theatre on London's Bankside, arrives in Stratford for one night only on April 23, Shakespeare's Birthday.

"It is always fun to do a play on Shakespeare's Birthday," said 73-year-old Jeffrey, who admits to being semi-retired. "It's just because nobody seems to want me," he added ruefully.

The work on Henry V has been a lifeline for him, after tragedy struck on January 11 this year, when he returned home from working in Newcastle-under-Lyme to discover that his beloved wife, Betty, had died suddenly from a heart attack.

"I couldn't get into the house and had to get the police," said Jeffrey.

Since then he has been supported by his three "most wonderful" daughters, Sarah, who lives at Brailes, Clare and Emma and his eight grandchildren.

He has also been comforted by his younger sister, Oscar-winning actress Dame Judi Dench, whose husband Michael Williams died on exactly the same day a year earlier.

"I have seen her, written and phoned and been down to stay," he said.

But even so, he admitted that the last few months have been difficult. "I sat here watching the Queen Mum's funeral. I sit down and weep, that's why I love working."

The acting "bug" bit Jeffrey early, when as a pupil at the all boys St Peter's, York, he was cast as Cleopatra in Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra.

He then spent his national service working in an Army theatre at Catterick, before attending the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, where he met and eventually married Betty, who was a speech therapist.

After drama school he did 10 years hard slog in weekly rep at York during the 1950s.

"Rep was very hard but very good training. You picked up a character from one reading,"said Jeffrey.

"There was no TV and audiences came to the theatre like they watch TV now. A crowd from the University of York would come on a Saturday night and send us up rotten," he recalled.

As a veteran RSC actor, who joined the company in 1963 for Peter Hall's acclaimed production of the War of the Roses, he opposes the company's plans to pull down the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

"It's not an easy theatre to work in but it's a wonderful theatre to work in," he said.

Actors "need a bit of welly" in order to project their voices to the farthest reaches of the auditorium, he said, echoing the recent sentiments of Sir Donald Sinden.

"Drama schools aren't training them to do it," he said. "They don't know about 10 beats a line in Shakespeare."

Jeffrey said his famous sister agreed with his views. "We are all opposed and both agree.

"They may say I'm an old fogey, but I utterly object to pulling this building down. It is a wonderful building and has stood in good stead better directors than they have now."

Henry V- The Battle of Agincourt is being performed at KES in Stratford on Tuesday, April 23 at 7.30pm.

Tickets can be booked on 01789 293351. The production will be touring historic castles this summer, including Kenilworth Castle on Saturday, July 27. Tickets available on 01926 852078.