Nick, so far York has seen your humorous adaptations of Beauty And The Beast and The Hunchback Of Notre Dame. The Derby McQueen Affair is your first original play. How did this play and its theme of charity exploitation develop?

"I'd had the idea for some time, and then Damian Theatre Royal artistic director Damian Cruden invited me to write a play on any subject of my choice.

"My sister used to work for Face 2 Face Personal Fundraising, on the streets in London and later in Leeds and one of her main contentions about charity collecting started the hare running in my mind."

What had she noticed?

"She found that the largest number of people just moved on, but the second largest group were in a hurry but did want to sign up for a charity donation, so they signed up without listening or thinking, even though they could have been giving their support to a terrorist group. Or maybe they just wanted to pay their daily entrance fee into the Aren't I Good Club."

Did anything else inspire you to write your story of three ex-students inventing a get-rich-quick scheme that involves the setting up of a charity for Derby McQueen, an invented girl with a life-threatening illness?

"The other thing that attracted me was an item on Paul Kenyon's Kenyon Confronts show in which he dressed up actors as burglars with the stripy jumpers and the black masks and he had them collecting for a charity called Campaign To Prevent The Prosecution Of Offenders."

What happened?

"There they were in their comedy burglar gear with their buckets, being secretly filmed. They raised £50 in an hour, and everyone who donated money was later asked if they knew what they had given money to. Most of them just laughed and said 'Oh well', and when it was explained to them, they still laughed.

"The 'burglars' stayed around to see if anyone would stop them but no one did so they were there all day, because they looked genuine.

"So that Kenyon programme gave me the springboard to 'explode' the idea, and make it more theatrical."

Did any news story influence the play?

"What really provided the engine to run this play was the story of a woman called Terri Millbrandt, who lived in Urbana, a small town in Michigan. She was the woman who convinced her entire community that her daughter had leukemia by cutting her hair off. She raised between $45,000 and $80,000, and the thing that interests me is that this dirt-poor town in the American Mid West, with all its industry gone, was galvanized by this charity. One chap, when he was interviewed later, said 'Yes, we were fooled, but if the same circumstances came up again, it would probably happen again because it gave us a sense of community and we felt better about ourselves because of it'."

You are noted for the humour of your writing. Is your new play a comedy with a serious point?

"It's difficult for me to say. When I wrote it I wanted it to be funny but I agree with John Godber's philosophy that a laugh and think is better than just a laugh, so that a play should be more than fast food where people say 'That was nice. What was it?'.

"It's not a satirical piece, and it's not a polemical piece but if there is a 'message' then it is that while I believe that charity is an absolute good, people should look more carefully into what they're supporting, rather than just instinctively giving."

The Derby McQueen Affair, The Studio, York Theatre Royal, June 18 to July 10. Tickets: £9, concessions £8, students and under 25s £3.50, on 01904 623568.

Updated: 08:46 Friday, June 11, 2004