British star TOM HIDDLESTON is eyeing a return to the theater as he feels the need to step away from the security of Hollywood and face the challenges of acting on stage again.

The actor started his career on the stage before winning parts in blockbusters such as Thor and The Avengers and admits he misses the thrill of performing for a live audience.

He tells WENN, "I do think that theater is the actors' medium ultimately. I love working in film, which is the directors' medium most of all. An actor is an instrument in the director's orchestra but the director is conducting and playing and composing the tune.

"Whereas on stage there's something so thrilling about the direct and live contact and complicity with an audience... you have this unique chemistry and there's no hiding place."

Hiddleston goes on to reveal he is actively searching for a new theater project and hopes to be back on stage very soon.

He adds, "I'm quite excited, I'm actively reading plays at the moment to try and find something interesting and different that I could do. I also think it would be nice, I need to test myself in that arena again."

Hiddleston's previous theater credits include a critically-acclaimed stint in a London production of Shakespeare's Othello with Scottish actor Ewan McGregor and a West End revival of Anton Chekhov's play Ivanov.