SAM Frenchum is playing a man who has the power to make a woman fall in love with him in less time than it takes to apply fresh lipstick.

Yet, although the 25 year-old RADA-trained actor is handsome and buff that’s not, he says smiling, all important to this role.

Sam is touring with Agatha Christie romp Love With A Stranger.

The part of American Bruce Lovell who walks into Cecily Harrington’s (Helen Bradbury) flat as a prospective renter, and sweeps her off her feet calls for more.

It calls for a knicker-sniffing, sneek photo-taking, international class- flattering psychopath.

“Yes, Cecily is a bit vulnerable,” Sam explains of the storyline. “Her fiance has been away in the Sudan when Bruce turns up. At exactly the right time.”

But he’s creepy.

“Yes, and that’s the challenge for an actor.

“This character is mysterious and a bit creepy, yet he still has to be able to charm this girl, within a few minutes.

“The challenge for me is to get the audience on side, to believe he has pulled it off.”

He adds, grinning; “Most of the time I can manage it.”

In order to play the womaniser Sam can’t recall heady, hedonistic days as a teenager when worried mothers were locking up their daughters in terror.

“I was quite shy,” he recalls.

“On the surface I seemed confident but I didn’t have the confidence my mates had.

“Part of this was because I was a big, heavy lad.

“I was 16 stone at one point.

“Then one day my dad suggested I go to the gym and I really enjoyed it. My mum was so supportive as well, both without pressuring me.

“When I lost the weight I gained a lot more confidence.

“I had a bit more calm about me. And after a couple of cheeky tequilas I felt fine.”

The former National Youth Theatre actor studied hard how to play Bruce.

“He’s a character who breaks the rules. He touches things in someone else’s house. He’s familiar.

“So every time I go on stage I tell myself ‘You can go on there. You can charm her.’”

Yet, what Sam loves about the script, this re-working of the thirties tale now set in the fifties, is that the role didn’t call for a specific look.

“It’s about the psychological impact the guy can make.

“I really enjoyed watching lots of documentaries about psychopaths.

“I really got into this study of the mindset of someone who can charm others, who are fakes.

“You realise it’s not about shouting, being big, it’s incredibly subtle.”

He adds; “There are elements of Trump about this man.

“But what really worked for me was the realisation I’m not playing a character. I’m playing a character who is playing a character.

“Once me and Lucy (Bailey, the director) got that it’s really worked out great.

“And Helen (Bradbury, who plays Cecily, has been fantastic too.”

Sam points out at the beginning of the rehearsal period he was somewhat left out of it.

“The rest of the characters in the play know each other.

“But mine doesn’t. So they’d be in one room working away and getting on great and I’d be in my dressing room watching video of psychopaths.

“But it worked out for me. It actually helped that I was so detached when it came to appearing in the play. This detachment fitted my character.

Sam has the excitement in his voice that comes from being three years out of RADA and loving every moment of the work.

He’s already appeared in TV’s Grantchester, but more recenlty he starred in Joe Orton’s classic play Loot.

The experience proved to be a double hit.

“I reviews were great and it was fantastic to appear in an Orton play and great fun, but I also met my girlfriend, Sinead Matthews who was in the cast,” he says, beaming his delight.

Right now, he’s in Edinburgh, offering her support while she appears at the Film Festival.

“It’s great (being together) in that we both understand the work,” says the 25 year-old.

“But at the same time it’s hard when work means we don’t get the chance to see each other.

Sam first began acting and writing for film in 2010 with a credited role in his short film Fringe about a group of young aspirational actors wishing to attend a festival.

Now, he’s loving his first Agatha Christie.

“This is a great update,” he says. “The play borrows not only from the 1960 Michael Powell film Peeping Tom, but it has fun with a sliding set that offers slight shifts of perspective.

“And it’s so exciting to be able to take it into different cities.”

And to see if he can charm an audience. But some nights though he won’t be as handsome as others?

“That’s true,” he says, laughing.

“Especially when on tour you want to try a couple of local beers.”