London, Dec 16 (IANS) British actress Keira Knightley has revealed that she almost turned down the chance for her onstage debut because she fears she will be “burned alive” by critics for her maiden performance.
The “Pirates of the Caribbean” actress is appearing in a revival of Moliere’s classic play “The Misanthrope”, alongside Damian Lewis and Tara Fitzgerald, which opens in London Thursday. And Knightley said she fears her performance in the production, which runs until March 2010, will be hit with a slew of negative reviews, reports imdb.com.

“(I know I will be) burned alive (by the critics). I’m not coming into it with any great expectations of coming away with great reviews. I thought if I don’t do theatre right now, I think I’m going to start being too terrified to do it. So I just thought, okay, dive in and give it a go. If my best isn’t good enough, then so be it,” she said.