I don’t believe it! How Richard Wilson became one of our top directors

At the age of 77, Richard Wilson shows little sign of slowing down. He is just as busy as ever, dividing his time between a fairly full-on acting schedule – with roles on stage, in film and television – and carving a name for himself as one of the foremost directors of new writing working in the theatre today.

He has directed several times at that bastion of new writing the Royal Court as well as at the Traverse and the National, amongst others, and is enjoying his continuing relationship with Sheffield Theatres as an associate director. His previous work as director at Sheffield includes That Face, starring Frances Barber, The Pride starring Daniel Evans, Lungs which was co-produced by Paines Plough and last year’s Straight by D C Moore.

His latest directorial project, Love Your Soldiers by actor and writer Robin Hooper, received its world premiere at the Crucible Studio last week. “I have known Robin Hooper for many years and I have nearly directed plays of his a couple of times,” says Wilson. “This was one of several ideas that Robin and I discussed and we have been working on it, on and off, for over two years.”

Love Your Soldiers is a moving and thought-provoking drama, a contemporary love story that explores the difficulties of maintaining relationships while dealing with the after effects of the violence of war.

“It’s a very relevant play,” says Wilson. “It takes place this year in Hackney, North London and on the battlefields of Afghanistan. It’s a sort of snapshot of a group of people and what the war does to them. Rather than looking at the political ramifications, it is a very personal story about both the Afghans and the British.” The plot focusses on Gemma, her boyfriend Ken and his best friend Roly, both of whom are young squaddies. The three become very close while the two young men are on leave and just before they go back to the front line Roly and Gemma sleep together.

“So it then becomes about Gemma’s love for two men,” says Wilson. “They both return to Afghanistan and one of them comes home severely injured.” Wilson says he has thoroughly enjoyed working with the young cast, two of whom are making their professional stage debuts.

“They are all doing very well,” he says. “They are excited about what we are doing and they are a very close-knit group. I enjoy working with young actors. I love their openness – there are a few older actors who carry a lot of baggage with them – but this cast are all full of enthusiasm and they love the play.” Wilson is pleased to be back at the Crucible and praises artistic director Daniel Evans, saying “he has done a wonderful job.” Last month the theatre was presented with four UK Theatre Awards in four different categories, winning Best New Play for Bull by Mike Barlett, Best Musical Production for Tim Firth’s This is My Family, The Full Monty won the Best Touring Production Award and Sian Phillips Best Supporting Performance for her role as grandmother May in This is My Family.

“People want to come and work here,” says Wilson “And they want to work here because of its reputation – Sheffield is the place to be.”

Wilson began directing while he was appearing in the hugely popular BBC TV sitcom One Foot in the Grave that ran from 1990 to 2000, regularly attracting up to 20 million viewers a week, in which he played lovable misanthrope Victor Meldrew, still probably the character for which he is best known. Wilson’s own demeanour couldn’t be further from that of grumpy Meldrew – he is friendly, chatty and good-humoured as he explains that he continues to enjoy acting and directing in equal measure.

“Once I have directed a play, I am always keen to do a bit of acting,” he says. “I suppose it’s because there are no responsibilities – you just have to think about your character.”

He feels that his own experience as an actor does feed into his approach as a director in a positive way. “I am very sympathetic to actors and what they go through,” he says. “I am not saying that every director should have acted but I think it’s very helpful. It’s also my job to make the actors feel good about going on stage and comfortable about who they are as characters so that they actually enjoy the experience. I work in a very open and minimal way as a director.”

His great love is exploring exciting new work that speaks to contemporary audiences. “I really only like directing new writing – I just believe that is what the theatre should be about,” he says. “I’m not really interested in directing Shakespeare, Ibsen or Chekhov. I think it’s good to nurture young writers and new writers because I think the theatre should reflect what is happening in the world now. This play shows us a very personal view of what’s happening in Afghanistan at the moment and I love the immediacy of it.”

Love My Soldiers is at The Crucible Studio until November 23. 0114 249 6000 or www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk