ALEX Elliott likes a glass of wine in the evening, but his latest Northern Stage role calls for much heavier drinking.

Together with co-stars Tony Neilsen and Mark Calvert, he was sent down the pub during Happy Hour to get drunk. They each downed two-thirds of a bottle of vodka, with their behaviour being filmed to provide a permanent reminder of how they acted while under the influence.

The trio feature in one half of a double bill, Cinzano and Smirnova's Birthday, being presented at the Gulbenkian Studio, Newcastle.

The plays, by Russian playwright and novelist Ludmila Petrushevskaya, are set in Moscow in the late 1980s. For the performances, the Gulbenkian Studio is transformed into a seedy, crumbling basement, littered with the decaying remnants of the old Russia.

In Cinzano, three men get drunk in a derelict basement. In Smirnova's Birthday, three women celebrate with their own stash of Cinzano.

Two of the men, blind drunk after drinking throughout the first play, lie comatose on the floor during the women's party. That presents an important practical consideration for Elliott and Neilsen, as they drink two litres or more of liquid - diluted apple cordial to represent Cinzano - during the first play.

"Tony and I are concerned about bladder control because we do drink such a lot in the first half," confesses Elliott.

He and the other two actors, all founder members of Northern Stage Ensemble, are friends in real life, which has helped them play friends in Cinzano.

"We're working to find the humour as well as the tragedy. It's a deeply desperate piece, but still has a lot of humour," he says.

"The period is the end of Brezhnev and beginning of perestroika and glasnost. There was a big campaign to close down illegal drinking dens. The characters in the play include three heavy drinkers and two confirmed alcoholics.

"I do enjoy a drink but, looking at the way these people drink, I'm only a social drinker. These guys drink litres of the stuff. It seems my character drinks from ten in the morning until his job is finished in the evening. By the end, they are completely drunk and can hardly see straight."

Elliott found the real life pub trip has been useful in retrospect as he watches the film to gauge how to play the various stages of drunkenness.

"We wanted to at least try it because the three of us had not been drunk together for a long time. Looking back on the experience, we've found out a lot. It's been very useful.

"We've done a lot of work together but this is the first time we've been in such an intimate piece. The fact that we know each other very well has helped."

Elliott grew up in Durham, where his father comes from, and then moved away to study Spanish and French at university. "I didn't think I'd be coming back," he says. "Now, if all goes well, I can see myself staying for a good while at Northern Stage."

Part of the reason is because he's become involved with the video side of Northern Stage's work. Many of their productions involve multi-media, and Elliott has been involved making films.

"We used a lot of video on the second version of A Clockwork Orange, and it was clear there was room within the company to develop these skills. It looks like film-making is going to be part of my job description," he says.

Elliott taught in Central and South America and in Spain before becoming an actor. He brother saw him in plays and suggested he take it up professionally. "It took me six years to get around to it, until I realised that what I was doing in the classroom was about performance," he says.

"Speaking Spanish and French comes in very handy. I also work as an interpreter and translator. There's an international feel to what we're doing at Northern Stage and with visiting directors. Last year, we had a company from Spain here, and we're looking abroad."

* Cinzano and Smirnova's Birthday runs at the Gulbenkian Studio, Newcastle, until October 25. Tickets 0191-230 5151.