WHEN Bob Clarke had his nose bitten off in an unprovoked pub attack, he little suspected that his misfortune would lead to an acting career.

Now Mr Clarke, a former sports coach at Bowbrook House School, is preparing to take the lead role in Keith Waterhouse's play Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell at the Cheltenham Playhouse.

The drama, which is based on real events in the boozing, gambling, womanising journalist's life, unfolds when he wakes in a Soho pub lavatory after closing hours. Realising that there is nothing to do but wait until the morning he comes to discover - in his own words - "What an amazing jemmy to the mind are a few large vodkas."

The supporting cast of four performers from the Kempsey-based Village Theatre Company between them take on more than 20 roles, ghosts from the past who arrive to chide, encourage or nag the increasingly inebriated Mr Bernard.

Mr Clarke said the show was returning by popular demand after a sell-out run of performances at Upton-upon-Severn Memorial Hall earlier this year.

"The Cheltenham Playhouse is the perfect venue and suits the play down to the ground," he added. "It is an intimate little theatre with just the right sort of ambience for a 1980s Soho pub."

Mr Clarke's move into acting was not the normal stage school story. "I never had any inclination to be an actor until I lost my nose," he said. "I tried to work out how to turn what had happened to me to my best advantage. I found that I suddenly had a very distinctive face that gives me a certain advantage as far as casting directors are concerned."

Since training at the Birmingham School of Speech and Drama Mr Clarke has had numerous roles on stage, screen and TV. His current performance runs from July 8 to 10 and tickets, at £7, can be ordered from the Playhouse box office on 01242 522852.