JUST two days into rehearsals for Doctor and the Devils and I've realised that I'm involved in a very special production.

This is a stage adaptation of a Dylan Thomas film script based on the story of grave robbers Burke and Hare.

This is a Fluellen Theatre Company production and my fifth play with the company, although this is very different to anything that I've been involved in previously.

In Toshack or Me and To Hull and Back I played Vicar Joe.

To play Joe, all I had to be was, Kev Johns.

Like Joe I loved the Swans and had also studied at Theological College and spent time as a minister.

Joe's passions were my passions.

The characters I played in Under Milk Wood were very familiar to me, in fact my characterization of Eli Jenkins, Willy Nilly, Organ Morgan and Dai Bread were all based on people growing up in Swansea.

The Odd Couple was a little harder but it's very difficult to mess up a play so beautifully written by Neil Simon.

In Doctor and the Devils I play Broom, who is not a nice character at all.

He loves to kill and is so despicable that when director Peter Richards received Francis script we seriously discussed whether I wanted to play this character or not.

But opportunities to play a character like Broom don't come very often and this is such a great script I couldn't miss this chance.

This is a very different rehearsal experience for me as much of the time is spent developing the character and trying to get the accent right.

The play is set in Edinburgh in the mid 1800's and whilst I play Broom as a Scot my character is based on a man I met in Liverpool in the 1980's when I worked as a minister in the City.

This is a super cast and I'm delighted to be working with many old friends including Adrian Metcalfe who is such a joy to work with and an incredible young Swansea actor Huw Richards.

The set is designed by Dr Who and Torchwood designer Ed Thomas and its going to be great although at the moment the accents suggest that Edinburgh in 1850 attracted people from every region of Scotland including Ballymory, but its only week 1 and as our director often says, 'rehearsals are for rehearsing'!

Thursdays are the strange days because at 3.30, five of the company jump in cars and head off to Tenby when we are performing two plays by Ammanford writer Ray Williams – Welsh accents return.

(This world premier of Doctor and the Devils opens at the Grand Theatre on September 2nd, followed by a Welsh tour)