Of Mice And Men, York Theatre Royal, February 26 to March 16

That was a year ago, and now Lancashire and Yorkshire are uniting for two shows, John Steinbeck's epic American drama Of Mice And Men, which moves from Bolton to York next week, and Terry Johnson's Dead Funny, in York first in April, then Bolton in May.

"We'll be discussing the possibility of doing other projects," says Mark. "A joint show certainly extends the life of publicly-funded art: it gets it out to other places, and there's the pragmatic benefit of being able to do larger projects than you'd otherwise do. It allows you to extend your boundaries of theatre beyond the normal opportunities.

"Usually you rehearse for three and a half weeks, perform for three and a half weeks and then it's over, and with something like Of Mice And Men, such a wonderful play, you want it to go on. We've had a fantastic response to this show from the public and the critics: last weekend in The Times it was picked for the top five regional productions."

There is, too, a financial benefit in linking up for joint shows. "Anything that saves your theatre money is a good thing, though it's not purely about saving money," stresses Mark.

He and Damian cast Of Mice And Men together, leading to the involvement of Theatre Royal repertory regulars such as Michael Glenn Murphy, Blair Plant, John Kirk and Lucy Chalkley. "After we did quite an extensive round of auditions, we had a casting recall day, where we had 15 of them in the room swapping parts, and the cast naturally chose itself," Mark says.

As co-producers, he and Damian developed a shared vision of the joint production but once rehearsals began under Mark, "it's been me with the actors", with Damian offering support and encouragement while working on his own winter production, Educating Rita, in the Theatre Royal's Studio.

"We're not left-field directors but we both believe in the importance of good theatre - and in having a laugh," says Mark.

A laugh, when appropriate. Of Mice And Men is largely a serious matter, albeit a play with shards of humour in its story of George and giant, simple-minded Lennie, two migrant farm workers in the 1930s who cherish the American Dream of having their own place.

"Life is not one dreary, oppressive inevitability, although what happens to Lennie is largely inevitable," says Mark. "But comedy does live within the tragedy in this play and, without it, it would be a pretty bleak night at the theatre.

"That thing of them being on the road together is the comedy of frustration. It's Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, the big guy and the little guy. We talked a lot about that in rehearsal, about it not being a sketch but being truthful to it, though of course that can be funny."

The aim, he says, must be to make the relationship as real as possible: "They know each other incredibly well and they know each other's Achilles heel, and that gives us a sense of how long they've been together, how much they need each other. George needs Lennie just as much as Lennie needs George because Lennie allows George to dream, and without Lennie, that dream would be dead."

Mark believes that ultimately Steinbeck's play is a "reality check".

"What's more important in this play than saying 'Isn't it terrible that the men are mean spirited?' is asking why they are that way. In the social conditions and economics of the 1930s, the American Dream poisoned things and wasn't as pure as the myth in the school books led us to believe - and maybe that feeling has endured," he says.

"The story is a reality check that the dream is unattainable because what it leads people to do is destroy each other, and so Steinbeck is asking whether to have a dream that's so destructive is good or not."

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the American Dream, the word from across the Pennines is that Of Mice And Men is a dream partnership for Bolton and York's repertory theatres.

Of Mice And Men, York Theatre Royal, February 26 to March 16. Box office: 01904 623568.

Updated: 09:21 Friday, February 22, 2002