STAGE

After 27 years and hundreds of parts in films, Jean-Paul Belmondo has returned to the stage for a series of performances in Paris. Belmondo, who has dangled from a helicopter over Paris, crawled across the roof of a moving subway car in pursuit of a murderer and frolicked with a Bengal tiger for the motion-picture camera, said: “I feel like a fighter going into the ring,� after opening in “Kean.� The five-act play by Alexandre Dumas was adapted by Jean-Paul Sartre in 1953. “Some people are expecting a KO, but I’m ready,� Belmondo said.

The world’s only festival of plays from Spain’s 16th-Century Golden Age opens Thursday in El Paso, Tex. The 12th annual Siglo de Oro Drama Festival is scheduled to feature drama groups from Spain, Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela performing 10 plays by Lope de Vega, Calderon de la Barca and others. The 10-day festival includes symposiums after each performance and awards ceremonies.