North-East actor Deka Walmsley talks to Steve Pratt about his dream role as a football manager.

GEORDIE actor Deka Walmsley took a special interest in a recent edition of BBC2's Match Of The Day 2 on BBC2, which featured a countdown of the top ten hand gestures used by football managers.

This proved an unexpected piece of research for his latest theatre role in Gaffer, in which he plays George, the manager of Northbridge Town, a club struggling in the lower half of the league.

The action on the pitch becomes less interesting to the club and the media than what's happening off the pitch, as George and the team's 17-year-old signing are spotted kissing on a park bench.

Chris Chibnall's play - which has been adopted by the Football Association as part of its attempt to stamp out homophobia in the game - has already opened at Southwark Playhouse to good reviews. The piece comes to the Studio at York Theatre Royal, which co-produced the production, this week.

For Walmsley, who has worked extensively with Live Theatre and Northern Stage in Newcastle, this is his first solo show. "You rarely get a chance to do a new play that's only you and isn't just a half-hour monologue," he says.

"So that appealed to the egotistical side of being an actor. Most actors, if they're honest, would say it's a fantastic opportunity. There's the enormity of the journey, of the trust that the skill you have as an actor will get you through."

There was also the small matter of the football theme. He not only favours new writing but also loves football. So Gaffer was a dream role for him.

"In the play, you're introduced to certain members of the team and to staff that work at the club," he explains. "Sometimes he reflects on it and talks to the audience, sometimes it's a scene and I am all of them - two, three, four people. You're always George the manager having a conversation."

He was written as a Northerner and once Walmsley was cast, he was made Geordie. "It made more sense to make it suit me rather than doing a dodgy Northern accent," he says. "They have customised it for a Geordie with the language. But it's so well written that has been easy."

Walmsley even gets to kick a ball as George during a training session, which is fine, as he's always loved and played football, which he compares to a theatrical event.

He's already done a soccer play, Northern Glory, which toured venues in the North-East. "We had a full football match, but there was no ball and it worked brilliantly. We worked for hours on that to get it right," he recalls.

Working in a small, intimate space like the Studio is fine by him. He's done it before at Live Theatre. "You can casually converse with the audience and it suits this play down to the ground. That's what's brilliant about being in a small space," he says.

During rehearsals, he and director Gareth Machin got to play - well, kick a ball about - at York City's ground. Another unusual aspect of the production was performing two scenes from the play at the FA's London headquarters during the launch of its anti-homophobia campaign.

Walmsley was back in Newcastle last year for the premiere at Live of Keepers Of The Flame, during the Royal Shakespeare Company's annual season.

"It was brilliant to work with Alan Howard. He's such a genuine bloke as well as a fantastic actor," he says. "It would be great if the play was seen somewhere else. It went down very well in Newcastle and did great business."

He moved to London in the 1990s. "I'd worked with Live for a long time and also Northern Stage and fancied a change," he says. "It was easier for auditions. You'd get a call to go to London, have to find the money for the train, spend five minutes at an audition and then get back on the train.

"It took us a while to get used to living in London and settle down, but it's fine now with the family and kids."

Perversely, Gaffer was rehearsed in York before opening in Southwark and then returning to York. It meant he missed out on his weekly game of football down south. "It's five-a-side. We turn out on a Tuesday night, pick teams and off we go," he says.

* Gaffer is at The Studio, York Theatre Royal, from November 3 to 27. Tickets (01904) 623568.