ALAN Bennett is pictured with a mug in the West Yorkshire Playhouse spring brochure, a sight familiar to theatre director Christopher Luscombe.

He is directing his fourth Bennett production, The History Boys, at the Leeds theatre, and readily he can call upon the Yorkshire playwright for advice.

“I’ve developed a relationship with him where I can go round and talk with him,” says Christopher, “I have to pinch myself – but of all the writers I’ve worked with, he’s the most encouraging and the most open-minded about bringing something to it.”

Christopher has directed the national tour of Bennett’s The Lady In The Van, starring Susan Hampshire; Singles Spies, starring Nigel Havers; and the West End production of Enjoy that began at the Bath Theatre Royal before transferring to the Gielgud. A new national tour of Enjoy with Alison Steadman and David Troughton in the lead roles will visit the Bradford Alhambra this spring.

And so the Bennett link builds, but Christopher had to think twice before accepting the invitation to direct The History Boys. “It must been last May-June that the Bath theatre said, ‘Do you want to do The History Boys?’ [in a co-production with the West Yorkshire Playhouse], and I did wonder as it had only recently been done on a national tour. But then I thought, ‘Well, actually, it’s a fantastic chance to do it.

“The fact that it was going to be done in Leeds was a big plus too: to have the play there for a month when it’s a play set in Yorkshire, in Sheffield.”

As well as directing a series of Bennett plays, Christopher also can draw upon the experience of performing in Forty Years On at Harrogate Theatre. “I feel a real connection with his work, and to have a connection with him personally is even better,” he says. “I’ve already met him to talk about The History Boys, and he says, ‘If you need to come round, do’. I find that very comforting.”

The History Boys addresses a trilogy of heavyweight subjects – the anarchy of adolescence, the value of history and the purpose of education – and yet is never feels heavy-handed. “It’s done with a very light touch,” says Christopher. “That’s one of his great gifts; you’d think it could be heavy but actually it’s whimsical and funny and light as a feather, but also very moving and very profound about what we can learn from history, so you never feel Bnnett is lecturing you, or that there’s a polemic going on.

“Of all the plays I’ve directed, it’s the one where we could have sat around all the time just discussing it!”

The History Boys runs at West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, until March 6. Box office: 0113 213 7700.