BILL Champion could be forgiven a feeling of deja vu this summer at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough.

From August 30, he will be appearing in his third play on exactly the same set design by Roger Glossop, and all three shows have been written and directed by Alan Ayckbourn.

The swish Docklands apartment by the River Thames may look the same for GamePlan, FlatSpin and now RolePlay but there the similarity ends. "I've never done a series of plays like this before, but it really does feel like a different set each time because of the text and the different situations."

In both GamePlan and FlatSpin, Bill's characters visited the apartment; in Role Play, the apartment belongs to his character, diffident Justin. "This time, it's my coffee table," he says.

RolePlay, Ayckbourn's 60th play, is an unexpected addition to the Stephen Joseph Theatre summer programme, with its story of Justin Lazenby and Julie-Ann Jobson planning an introductory supper party for their parents only to be disturbed by desperate neighbour Paige Petite and the menacing Micky Rale.

"We were about half way through rehearsals for FlatSpin, and in came Alan saying he'd had this idea for a third play and we all just thought 'dear Alan'. Then he had the synopsis so we knew he was serious, and suddenly here we are doing that third play!"

Not that Bill is complaining. He loves working with Alan Ayckbourn, as much for his directing as his writing skills. "Alan's an extraordinary director in that he gives you a chance. He says there are two ways of getting to a destination, the actor's way and the director's way, and as long as the actor arrives at the destination, he's happy - and that's rare among directors," he says.

"His methods also give you the confidence that if you're going down the wrong alley, he'll nudge you back in the right direction to be on the right path."

Bill recalls his first meeting with Ayckbourn, when his nerves were dispelled quickly. "At first, I felt 'Oh God, it's Alan Ayckbourn' but after the first five minutes, you realise he's shy and you find you get on, you talk about plays, and it's a tribute to him that you forget who he is: the most performed living playwright in the Western world.

"Then when you rehearse his plays, you forget he's the writer! He'll discover new things through you performing the script."

RolePlay, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, in repertoire from August 30 to September 8. Box office: 01723 370541.