Dame Siân Phillips, one of Wales’s best-known actors, is stepping back from major stage roles at the age of 93 after experiencing difficulty remembering lines during rehearsals. She will still take on smaller performances, marking a change rather than a full retirement from a career spanning more than eight decades.

Phillips reportedly made the decision after rehearsing Atonement at Chichester Festival Theatre earlier this year. She plans to continue with her show It’s All Greek and is due to appear in Samuel Beckett’s Rockaby for Michael Sheen’s Welsh National Theatre next year; her honours include a Bafta, a Tony nomination, a CBE and a damehood.