Dead Funny, York Theatre Royal, April 6 to 27

ROBIN Hooper reckons he has his twin brother to thank for landing him the role of Brian in Terry Johnson's Dead Funny at York Theatre Royal. Not that this star of the BBC's cult show The Office was mistaken for his fellow thespian, Jim Hooper.

Let Robin explain: "I think this is the truth. Damian Cruden, the artistic director, rang up my brother to talk to him about playing Brian and about being resident director at the theatre. Jim said he wanted to go for the director's post, and why didn't he audition me for Brian."

Success followed for both: Jim is to take up the new position of resident director, directing Joe Orton's Loot for a summer season run from July 12 to August 3, and twin Robin will enjoy the life of Brian in Dead Funny in York from tomorrow until April 27, with more shows to follow at the Bolton Octagon.

Are you quite sure you were not mistaken for your brother, Jim, er, sorry Robin? "We are twins but we're fraternal, not identical twins. Twins are always defensive about their eggs! We were from separate eggs and that means we're fraternal," says Robin, who is the elder of the two.

"Some people say I look younger than him; some people say I look older, but I definitely came out first."

The brothers have performed on stage and screen together, not least 20 years ago in the musical Guys And Dolls in a cast of only eight at the Half Moon Theatre in the East End in a production which would have transferred to the West End but for the Royal National Theatre acquiring the rights. Then there was the strange film Being Human, Gregory's Girl director Bill Forsyth's travels through history, released in 1994 after a year on the shelf and subsequently shunted straight to video in Britain after flopping in the United States. "It was a less than adequate film, I remember, with Robin Williams as the lead. Jim and I were slaves, and we had a great time filming in Morocco but none of us knew what it was supposed to be about!" admits Robin.

By way of contrast, he has very definite ideas about Dead Funny, Terry Johnson's comic study of the Dead Comics Society, one of those obsessive clubs the British love forming. Brian, in his late 50s, is the founding figure behind the comic appreciation society; a mummy's boy who had lived with his mother until her death and is about to make a revelation about his sexuality.

Robin is not a member of any such nostalgia-fuelled society but he understands why others are. "Oh yes, definitely. I do sympathise with them. I am an enormous fan of those who do decide to form a group, bonding together in celebration of dead comedians, or sporting teams or whatever....everything, I suppose, apart from the National Front."

Yet are such obsessions with the likes of Benny Hill - whose death forms the starting point of Dead Funny - not merely a way of avoiding real life? "Obsessive interests like that are, to some extent, replacement gestures but within the context of this play, it's touching and important that those entertainers with creative skills, who emerged from live entertainment, music hall, revues or the end of the pier, should be honoured for those particular skills," says Robin.

"Perhaps these clubs are an escape from traumas and responsibilities but they also reflect the need to celebrate something that does need celebrating."

Such was Robin's enthusiasm to play Brian that he declined the invitation to return to The Office, in the role of Malcolm, in a second series of improvised dialogue, documentary-style filming and hand-held camerawork. "My involvement in that show has ended after two years because of this job. I kind of had a choice in the end, second series in a small part or this play with the high quality role and writing, and I didn't know if I wanted to do Malcolm again without that role advancing. So I had to decide between a juicy part like Brian, or a popping-in-and-out part like Malcolm, and in the end it was that old thing of the actor going for the better part," he says.

"The Office producers were very sweet about it, saying that if I got a lovely theatre role, then go with it, because Malcolm was probably going to get less than he had in the first series."

Robin has not regretted his decision for a moment, revelling in working in York for the first time. "Increasingly in this profession, you get asked to perform in small rooms, larger rooms or converted railway properties and that means working with no proper acoustics, or on TV, where they don't want you to act, just to be, but York is a lovely theatre in a charming city and it's rare now to do theatre in a space of this quality," he says.

That is why Robin has said goodbye to The Office job, hello to some Dead Funny business.

Dead Funny, York Theatre Royal, April 6 to 27 at 7.30pm, plus 2.30pm on April 20 and 25. No performances on April 7, 14, 15, 21 and 22. Tickets: £8 to £16, with concessions available; ring 01904 623568.

Updated: 09:38 Friday, April 05, 2002