From Telegraph.co.uk: Directing? It's all a bit of fun Actor Denis Lawson first turned his hand to directing with his nephew Ewan McGregor as his star. Now, he tells Matthew Bond, he's caught the bug - and knows that success starts with a long lunch 'FOLLOW that" is the phrase that comes to mind. Seventeen months ago, the first play that Denis Lawson directed rather than appeared in, sold out its eight-week run at the small but influential Hampstead Theatre in London and transferred immediately to the West End. Not bad for a beginner. There were, however, rather special circumstances. The star of David Helliwell's Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs was Lawson's film-star nephew, Ewan McGregor, who, even in a play that didn't require him to disrobe, had a commercial pulling power matched only by a naked Nicole Kidman. However, McGregor is not in his uncle's second play as a director and "following that" begins to look like a rather serious challenge. But if it is, Lawson is still actor enough to hide it well. Or perhaps he is telling the truth when he says he feels no pressure. "Everyone's getting very nervous, apart from me, because I don't have to walk on and do it," he jokes, as he takes a break from rehearsals to discuss Burning Issues, which opens at Hampstead next Tuesday. It's the new play by Ron Hutchinson, best known for his award-winning drama Rat in the Skull. In the mid-1980s that play enjoyed considerable success at the Royal Court and eventually transferred to Broadway. Lawson, however, is adamant that he did not choose Burning Issues for its commercial potential. He chose the play - which deals with the discovery of racist private diaries written by a fictional literary giant and the question of whether they should be published - because he thought it was good. "I don't feel I have to follow the success of Little Malcolm. I like Ron's play because it's about something, moral issues, the power of the written word. But if it's not a massive success then it doesn't bother me." I point out politely that last bit simply can't be true. But the star of Local Hero, Hornblower and most recently ITV's well received new sitcom Bob Martin insists that it is. "I know it sounds odd, but it's true, and I found that with Little Malcolm. We had such a wonderful time in the process of rehearsing it that I really felt that that was what was important - it was engrossing, fun and that was enough. I feel that with this too." But then, as he points out, he doesn't have to make a living out of directing. "I do it because it interests me and I enjoy it." The ideal, he says, would be to direct just one or two plays a year. "It's very important to me that I keep acting." He pauses for effect before leaning forward conspiratorially. "I'm going to be brave here. I don't think directing is as difficult as acting, I really don't. Writing and performing - that's where the mystery is. You are much more on the line. I'm not saying directing is a piece of cake. It requires a lot of concentration, a lot of preparation, the ability to think fast on your feet, but generally I find it very enjoyable." Enjoyment is at the heart of Lawson's directing method, as he hopes his new cast, which includes John Gordon Sinclair, William Chubb and Miranda Pleasence, have discovered. Rehearsals begin not with a read-through ("terrible, nerve-racking things") but with lunch, the longer the better. "The actors just sit and talk to each other, get to know each other - that's more valuable to me than mumbling your way through a play that you don't know." Only the following day does the hard work begin, the pace driven by a Scottish work ethic that Lawson inherited from his mother. But 17 months ago, this drive was also in danger of forcing Lawson into over-work or spreading himself too thinly. He was rehearsing Little Malcolm. He had just finished making Hornblower and was about to make the second series of The Ambassador. He had just written and directed his first short film, The Base Player <sic>, and was working hard to get a handful of film projects, some of which he had also written, off the ground as an independent producer. At 52 he has reined back, just a little. Most of the film projects have been laid to one side, except for a rock 'n' roll road movie that he and McGregor have been developing for some time. "I realised that I was doing one job too many. So I stepped back from a few things." Having just completed an acting role in a BBC adaptation of Joanna Trollope's Other People's Children, he is happy with the dual role of actor-director and inspired by others who have successfully combined both jobs - "like my old pals Ian McDiarmid and Simon Callow, Alan Rickman and Ken... Damn, I've got a name block..." Kenneth Branagh, I suggest? "That's the one." Whether this is genuine forgetfulness or a joke, I'm not sure, especially as comedy is clearly emerging as the new driving force in Lawson's career. Burning Issues, he hopes, will be a very funny play as well as a powerful one. And when it is finished he's off to record the second series of Bob Martin, where the gameshow host of the title is played by real-life gameshow host Michael Barrymore. When we meet, Barrymore has just hit the tabloid headlines again for his behaviour at an awards ceremony. Nevertheless, Lawson, who plays Martin's improbably coiffed ("it's a big, big-hair part") and rather camp producer, insists Barrymore is misunderstood. "Obviously there's a wild streak there but what really surprised me about him is that he's a very, very good actor. The character he's creating is not Michael Barrymore. This Bob Martin character is lost, alone, vulnerable, not very bright and none of these things apply to Michael. It's actually a very subtle evocation of a character and I admire that." And after Bob Martin, there's nothing definite as yet but comedy again features large. For his next directing project Lawson would like to direct Sheila Gish, with whom he has lived for the past 14 years, in a new production of Ken Ludwig's Moon Over Buffalo, which he describes as "terrific, high-energy comedy". As for his acting, he plans to revive his own stage career after a gap of four years, also in a comedy. "People who know my television work may be surprised by that because I tend to keep a tight rein on it in front of a camera. But comedy is more to do with why I became an actor in the first place. I love the idea of making people laugh. It's incredibly satisfying." More satisfying than directing? He smiles. "That's just a question of believing you can do it."