Inspiration comes from all sources. Leafing through a magazine and homing in on the agony column, actor Frank Barrie was intrigued by one problem in particular.

“It was fascinating stuff.

A woman had posed a love triangle dilemma and the agony aunt gave some extremely radical advice.

“She advised her to get the two men together in a meeting and deliver her shattering confession.

“I thought that’s a bit dicey! But I could see the interaction, comedy and moral problems that situation could expose,” he says.

This magazine letter sparked the writing of The Devil You Know. It’s a three-hander starring Gary Raymond and his wife Delena Kidd alongside Barrie.

“We have been pals for a long time and we are all members of the London Shakespeare Club. We’re all getting on a bit now, but had been working together on Faith Healer by Brian Friel, and thought let’s do another.

“That’s when I decided to write The Devil You Know,” he adds.

Barrie, 68, is an accomplished, award-winning British actor and scriptwriter. Over his five decades of performing he has made a name for himself in West End roles, National Theatre productions, often with Sir Laurence Olivier, and in his one man show Macready.

Television and film appearances run into three figures, the most recent being Calendar Girls.

As we talk, his enthusiasm and passion for his profession spark through our conversation. He is of the ‘old school’ of acting and has thoroughness and experience that he is happy to share making his lectures very much sought after.

He is full of fascinating anecdotes and his insight into the theatrical world is something special. Barrie is a man who knows the power of a play.

“I remember going out to Iraq during the Gulf War in 1991. The London Shakespeare Club was presenting Macbeth.

“A copy of the play had to be vetted by the Iraqi government and I was a bit concerned, you know, a play about a murderous tyrant in that atmosphere, but it went ahead. I suppose they hadn’t appreciated the power of Shakespeare, although Macbeth was written 400 years ago. We had rapturous applause and a huge audience came the next day.

“But the following day a message from the ambassador came and we were forbidden to perform again. The secret police had infiltrated the audience and the reaction had startled them,” he recalls.

Barrie illustrates the funnier side of his career when he was in a filming for the television series Murder in Suburbia.

“When I got the call sheet it revealed that an elderly gentleman was to be drowned in a bath, great care should be taken and that a stunt double had been lined up for me. I thought, to hell with it, I’m not having that! I did it all myself,” he laughs.

For the future Barrie is off to the States, directing and starring as Shylock in the Merchant of Venice. Actors are famous for being nervous of where the next pay cheque is coming from. Surely this is not a worry that absorbs Frank Barrie.

“I’m always tied up in advance and I like to work. I do get jumpy if I’m not working, but if you’re passionate about what you do, why would you want to stop?” The Devil You Know runs at the Warehouse Theatre, Dingwall Road, Croydon, until April 24. For tickets call the box office on 020 8680 4060.