Happy Jack, Live Bed Show and Disco Pigs will be in repertoire from September 5 to November 3 at The

"I have to be honest, it may sound arrogant, but it feels the most natural thing I've ever done," he says, reflecting on his invitation to move up from the acting ranks to make his professional directing debut at the age of 38.

Tim has been part of the Theatre Royal repertory company for several years, performing in such productions as Alan Bennett's Habeas Corpus, John Godber's Bouncers, The Little Shop Of Horrors, Patrick Marber's Closer and, at present, The Three Musketeers.

Artistic director Damian Cruden noted his ability to motivate his fellow actors - Tim has been called up to keep a cast ticking over during a production run on more than one occasion - and duly asked him to direct the autumn Studio season of John Godber's Happy Jack, Arthur Smith's Live Bed Show and Enda Walsh's Disco Pigs.

"The two things I've been asked most are: 'Isn't it scary doing this new theatre project?', and 'Isn't it scary doing it in a new space?', but no, it isn't scary!" says Tim. "Firstly, because I'm ready to do something like this and, secondly, because I love working in this theatre: this is my fifth year here."

Tim is not entirely new to the art of directing or running a show. "The directing has some roots," he says. "I've always been interested in the various aspects of theatre. In 1991 I was involved in a production company called Backbeat that raised £60,000 to put on a production of Good Golly Miss Molly in London, and it ran for five months before it hit the February graveyard."

He then set up Wink, a company which mounted plays at Arts Threshold in Paddington and small-scale tours. "I was the producer figure; the director and lighting designer took on the artistic side and I did the management and marketing, but that wasn't something I wanted to take further at that point," he says.

Over the last two years, Tim has been teaching acting at the Actors' Centre in Covent Garden, and now comes his elevation to directing a trio of two-hander plays at York Theatre Royal.

Describing his burgeoning style of direction, he says: "I would have to call myself an actor's director. I've been involved in information technology, doing design, so it's not as if I have no visual input but I've always felt actors are the nub of what's happening on stage," he says.

"All three plays this autumn are storytelling pieces - Disco Pigs has monologues; the other two have speeches to the audience - and that was part of the reason for Damian choosing them. So while I hope they're visually stunning, what I find incredibly exciting is seeing two actors working on the floor."

Welton has selected two members of The Three Musketeers company, John Kirk and Lucy Chalkley, to perform all three two-handers, a casting policy that provides another new interest point for Theatre Royal audiences. "The plays are very challenging for the actors, as there's quite a spread age-wise," says Tim. "Jack and Liz in Happy Jack are retired; Pig and Runt in Disco Pigs are teenagers; Maria and Cash in Live Bed Show are in their thirties, closer in age to John and Lucy.

"Ideally, if people enjoy seeing them in Happy Jack, they'll think about coming back to see them in a show they might not otherwise have gone to, such as Disco Pigs."

Tim envisages the Studio developing a new audience for the theatre. "I hope it can act as a first stop for people who would come to the theatre but feel there's something that overawes them about going into the main house," he says.

Looking to his own future, he says: "I haven't yet talked about it with Damian but hopefully he'll put more directing work my way, and it would be great to progress to a production in the main auditorium."

Watch this new space: a new beginning for Tim Welton and the Theatre Royal alike.

Happy Jack, Live Bed Show and Disco Pigs will be in repertoire from September 5 to November 3 at The Studio, York Theatre Royal. Box office: 01904 623568.