AUTHOR' S NOTE: In the original post, there was a photo showing Richard Armitage in a kilt and upon reading comments on Buzz Feed and doing some research, it appears that the photo was indeed photoshopped.

Richard Armitage arrives in the tiny, cluttered stage manager’s office of The Old Vic straight from rehearsals for Arthur Miller’s The Crucible.

Television viewers who associate him with double agent Lucas North in Spooks, nasty Guy of Gisborne in Robin Hood, or the character based on SAS man Andy Mc Nab in Sky One’s Strike Back would know different. Armitage is to play the tormented John Proctor in the playwright’s terrifying account of the 17th century Salem witch trials, in which Proctor’s adulterous relationship with a young woman sparks a vengeful chain of events that leads to the deaths of many.“You can’t play this story without addressing sexuality in this particular society in this time, the masculinity of the men, the femininity of the women, the vulnerability of prepubescent girls.Yael is cooking something which at the moment feels like it’s - and should be - too hot to handle.” Armitage is a noticeably calm presence but he talks with passion.At a Savoy party after his opening night at the Old Vic, he said: “All I ever expected from a career was to pursue a life in theatre.Then you get swept into a torrential river of television and film roles which I’ve adored playing. I started in theatre and it’s such a great thing to come back to it and realise it’s my first love.” Armitage, whose last theatre appearance was in a 2001 Royal Shakespeare Company production of The Duchess of Malfi, said he had been “hunting” for a stage role for years.Crucible star Richard Armitage said theatre was his “first love” as he returned to the stage after a 13-year gap.The actor said it was his fame from playing parts in Spooks and The Hobbit on TV and film that had given him the chance to appear as John Proctor in the Arthur Miller play.