Paul's first job was working with cream of British actors

But for Paul Chequer, appearing in the Royal Shakespeare Company's new production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, the postcards home couldn't have been better.

Not only was he in sunny Italy, but he was surrounded by the cream of British acting talent - Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Joan Plowright - on the set of the successful film, Tea With Mussolini.

"That was pretty scary," he admits, adding "It was marvellous and they were so nice. It was amazing just being in Italy."

Despite the success, he almost wishes his chance hadn't come so soon.

"I would love the opportunity to do that kind of thing again," he said. "Now I have a few years experience behind me I think I would embrace it a bit more, but I did love it. I have great memories of it."

Since then Paul, who left London's Guildhall drama school four years ago, has found himself on the small screen rather a lot, with roles in Holby City and the Channel 4 show, As If, where he plays the heartthrob, Jamie.

The role has led to him being recognised in the street, but he said: "Working on it is very hard. You shoot so quickly and we did 38 episodes in six months in the summer. That's really speedy.

"Although everything you do every day is new, the acting experience isn't such a challenge, because you don't even have time for a rehearsal often and it's just two takes.

"It does become a bit of a slog. I don't know how people do soaps, to be honest."

Now he is much more relaxed back in his first love, the theatre. He hasn't always wanted to be an actor and said: "When I was in my first school play at about 15, that was when I first got bitten. I had a friend whose parents ran various amateur companies and did various things with them."

Then it was off to the Guildhall where he got a less than star struck first introduction to the RSC.

"I worked at the theatre bar at the Barbican, so I was always hearing them if I wasn't seeing them," he said.

Now he's making his RSC debut in one of Shakespeare's best-known roles, Demetrius, and unusually for an actor it's a play, let alone a role, he has never appeared in before.

"I think I'm coming to it with fairly fresh eyes," he said, speaking in a break in rehearsals in London. "It will be good to get up to Stratford and get into the theatre and feel what it is like on the stage."

As for Demetrius: "He's a tricky customer. He's being chased and chasing at the same time."

He sees Shakespeare's classic as a tale all about sex and said: "I'm playing Demetrius as quite frigid until he has the potion in his eye and then he is all reborn and liberated."

The production is directed by Richard Jones. Paul worked with him at the Young Vic in Six Characters in Search of an Author and said: "I love his ideas and the way he rehearses. I think this show will be both accessible and challenging."

A Midsummer Night's Dream is on at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford until March 23 before setting out on a tour, taking in Bradford, Stoke, Norwich, Salford, Plymouth and Woking.

Tickets for the Stratford shows are available from the Box Office on 01789 403403.