JOHN White knows the ins and outs of the acting world, working as both an amateur and professional in the land of greasepaint and footlights. So, who better to direct York Settlement Players in Alan Ayckbourn's study of amateur dramatics, A Chorus Of Disapproval?

Ayckbourn's black comedy follows the erratic progress of an amateur production of The Beggar's Opera, as the arrival of widower Guy (company newcomer Paul Osborne) sends the society's spinning wheel of sexual shenanigans out of control. Demonic Welsh producer Dafydd (Settlement stalwart Alan Booty) must somehow maintain a grip.

"I hope that Alan is painting an exaggerated picture because in my 50 years I've never come across it," says John, as a gentle smile breaks across his face.

"I think all of us have probably a slightly off-set impression of the theatre world. I've worked in quite a few companies where there's a them-and-us situation, with the cast being divorced from the management and the director.

"The work gets done but this is a big tub-thump of mine: the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre describe themselves as companies, but they're not, they're play factories."

John first joined the Settlement Players in 1957 and rejoined two or three years ago, since when he has been struck by the gradually changing face of the personnel. No play factory here. "There's a good turnover of people in Settlement, and for the last four productions we must have had 50 young people coming along to have a go," he says.

"Paul Osborne was new to me, and I just liked him. I'm not a person who listens much to the read-through. I like to hear a person's voice and I never judge on an ability to read; it's more a case of thinking 'Well, you look capable of doing that role'.

"For this production, I knew Alan Booty, Richard Easterbrook and Vivienne Clare already, but the others were strangers to me and I like it that way."

A Chorus Of Disapproval, York Settlement Players, Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York, March 9 to 12, 7.30pm. Box office: 0845 961 3000.

Updated: 09:06 Friday, March 04, 2005