Writer, director, performer - Nick Lane is a man of many parts. He talks to Steve Pratt about his new play about the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

A CAR accident has helped actor Nick Lane fulfil his ambition of becoming a writer. Seven years ago, he was hurt in a road accident that left him unable to turn his head particularly well. You wouldn't know to look at him, putting down any immobility to a stiff neck.

And it hasn't stopped him acting. Anyone who saw him in the two-hander Beauty And The Beast at York Theatre Royal last year wouldn't have noticed anything from his inventive, energetic performance. But, as Doncaster-born Lane puts it, "the spectrum of opportunity for acting work has significantly diminished" because of the injury. The flip side is that it's enable him to develop his writing and directing.

He's also performing in The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, which he first adapted for Hull Truck theatre company and is now directing in York Theatre Royal's Studio.

"Ever since I was young, I wanted to write," he explains. "That was my first love and the opportunity to do it was presented by John Godber at Hull Truck. I direct as well. If I get the chance to do all three - adapt, direct and perform - it's terrific."

His first adaptation was Frankenstein and he's also adapted Lady Chatterley's Lover. "I really enjoyed doing that and getting under the skin of it and debunking some of the myths. It's a love story, not just this sex romp," he says.

His other adaptations have been aimed at younger audiences. First, Beauty And The Beast and now The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, originally staged by Hull Truck.

He and Emily Fairman are the players this time, with Lane directing.

The play's the same, but the production is different. "A lot of the problems have been ironed out, but I don't want to stick to what we had before. That wouldn't be interesting and not fair on Emily because she would have been stepping into someone else's shoes," he says.

He's set his play in an old theatre, where the story of Quasimodo and Esmeralda is acted out. His main criteria with children's shows are to make them entertaining and stay as close to the source material as possible.

The latter is particularly difficult with The Hunchback as the story includes near rape, a stabbing and accusations of devil worship. "It runs the whole gamut of child-unfriendly subject matter," he admits, while not believing in underestimating youthful audiences. "Children's theatre has to be as on the ball as adult theatre because kids don't miss a trick," says Lane.

"When I wrote the play there was a lot of stuff in the media about bullying in primary schools, a spate of sending hate mail by text messages. You have a classic victim in Quasimodo. But I would hate to be preachy about it because kids see that coming as well. They can see a message coming miles off."

He didn't watch the Disney cartoon version of Beauty And The Beast again when he came to adapt it, and he's never seen the same company's animated Hunchback. "I thought it might lead me down a storytelling path that I didn't want to do," he says.

Giving up acting completely after the accident wasn't an option he considered. If a part comes up he feels he can do, he'll take it. He hadn't contemplated what he'd miss if he'd had to give up acting for good.

"It would be hard saying never again. There's something about the environment of working in the theatre - the people you meet are nice, sensible, intellectually-minded people. It's actually a very friendly working environment," he says.

"You turn up at 10.30, do a couple of hours, have a long lunch, do another couple of hours, and then go home. Television is more boring because you're hanging around."

His mother was an actress, who tells the story that her agent phoned one day, young Nick answered, the agent liked his voice and suggested acting. His mother asked if he'd like to have a go, and he said yes.

He had a small part in ITV soap Emmerdale in 1982, when he was 11, and worked every so often after that. By the time he left school, he'd accrued quite a bit of acting experience. University was a possibility but finances at home weren't great. He kept deferring his entry to keep working as an actor "to help the family pot".

He now lives in Thorn, near Doncaster, with actress wife Fiona Wass. The pair appeared together at York Theatre Royal in Dead Funny a couple of years ago.

The Studio, where The Hunchback is being staged, will see the premiere of his first original play The Derby Mcqueen Affair in June. He won't be directing it but performing a one-man show, Beef and Yorkshire Pudding, in Wakefield at the time.

* The Hunchback Of Notre Dame: The Studio, York Theatre Royal, from April 1 to 24. Tickets 01904 623568.

Published: 27/03/2004