JANUARY 25 - 29 2005, BATH: SIMON Shepherd, the director of ART, said if the play was about women rather than men it would only last 15 minutes.

Shepherd, who is best known as Dr Will Preston in ITV's Peak Practice, said it is about the dysfunctional relationship between three men who are incapable of talking about their feelings.

The three middle-aged men, who have been friends for 15 years, fall out when one of them decides to spend vast sums of money on an entirely white painting. The others realise how little they know him.

"These three men are so dysfunctional and emotionally repressed that when the bubble bursts everything they have been storing up for the past 15 years comes out.

"The tougher they are on each other the more the audience gets embarrassed and that's why it's funny.

"If it was a play about three women it would be 15 minutes long. Men just don't talk about their problems in the same way."

He added: "It's very funny. It's not a pretentious play about modern art."

Shepherd plays Serge, the character who decides to buy the piece of totally white modern art that sparks bewilderment in his friends.

He first performed the part of Serge in ART three years ago in London's West End and said he was delighted by the chance to direct the play.

He said: "It's going well because I've got such a good cast."

Alongside Shepherd, Michael Garner, best known as Geoff Pearce from London's Burning, and Russell Boulter, who plays DC Bolton in The Bill, also star.

He thinks the award-winning play, by Yasmina Reza, has a particular resonance for people in their 30s who have friendships which go back a long way.

But he thinks

it appeals to people in all walks of life and said it will have the audience roaring with laughter.

Shepherd also thinks those who prefer short plays will be tempted to see it.

"If you come to watch it at 7.30pm you're in the pub by 9pm," he said.