SIMON Shepherd is breaking not one but two ducks in the latest tour of Art, Yasmina Reza's study of men, art and men's arts.

"I've done the show before, three years ago with Philip Franks and Leigh Lawson in the West End and on a ten-week tour, and I loved it," he recalls. "This time last year I was asked by the producers if I would do it again, and initially I thought 'I don't know, I've never done a play twice before', but then they asked me would I direct it, and I said Yes - naturally!"

On Tuesday, his directorial debut production arrives at the Grand Opera House, in York, where Simon, erstwhile Dr Will Preston in Peak Practice, will lock horns with two fellow television names, Michael Garner, from London's Burning, and Russell Boulter, from The Bill and Heartbeat.

"I've never directed before, and what I've done is use the same lighting and same set design as before, but the emotional temperature of the acting has been left entirely up to me, and it works. We play it more passionately, hotter than before and the more angry and unpleasant we are to each other, the more the audience laughs. That's what I learned from before," says Simon, who is more than halfway through a six-month tour that ends in July.

"Audiences who have seen it before are quite surprised when they see this production, because we play it fast and fresh, and the more turmoil there is, the more they respond. Whether that's because audiences are now more sadistic, who can say? Certainly we're in an age of anger management."

What encouraged Simon to turn up the frictional heat between the three characters, suave Serge, cynical Marc and Yvan, their neutral-as-Switzerland punchbag?

"When I did it three years ago, the original director, Matthew Warchus, worked with us for a day, and then Thea Sharrack pushed us in that direction. Technically and logistically, what I've done is continue along that line, just pushing it further because I knew it would work. Maybe people in the audience are responding to the anger that they see in everyday life."

On this tour Simon is reprising the role of Serge, the dermatologist who buys a modish white painting for the price of a house. "David Pugh, the producer - who I like enormously - said when I finished last time, 'I'd like you to do it again and I'd like you to play Yvan', but I didn't want to do a new role as well as direct. That would be gilding the pressure lily too much," he says.

Analysing the popularity of Art, first in France and subsequently in the West End and on Broadway, Simon comments: "It's a play for people who've had relationships for a long time, and though it's not just for middle-aged people, it's probably better to be 25 or more to get the nuances.

"It's popular because it's about people and, yes, it's also about art, but art is used as a catalyst or a microscope that people look at their lives through. In Art, there's a huge amount of 'There but for the grace of God go I', where you think 'Thank God I didn't say that to my best friend...oh God, I did say that'!"

Next week Simon will be appearing on a York stage for the first time since playing the Duke of Clarence in Paines Plough's premiere of a "very creepy, very unpleasant" Alan Drury play, Mr Hyde, at the Arts Centre in the late Eighties. He is delighted to be returning to the city in a play of the calibre of Art. "I think it's just serendipity, doing this play, and I'm really happy to be part of that circus. I'm so happy to be revisiting it - and I've never played either of York's main theatres before."Another duck awaits to be broken next week.

Art, Grand Opera House, York, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm, plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Tickets: £8 to £22.50, ring 0870 606 3595.

Updated: 09:40 Friday, May 20, 2005