GLASGOW has long featured a collection of space cadets, but this week is most likely the first time a couple have appeared on stage.

Darren Seed and Rosie Mason star as Neil and Dawn, a married couple who are selected to take off on a trip of a lifetime – a space-flight to Mars.

All they have to do is complete basic training and sign some disclaimers. But is there something they’re not being told? And what happens when they want to come back?

“It’s a great play,” says Darren, who’s been performing 140 Million Miles in Bristol, as part of an Oran Mor co-production.

“Neil and Dawn are an ordinary couple from Bristol, she’s unemployed and he’s a taxi driver and the reckon Earth just doesn’t have that much to offer them anymore. So they set off to Mars, and then things take an unexpected turn.”

Hang on a minute; astronauts are usually selected for their hyper intelligence, all sorts of Darwinian criteria are attached to the selection.

What’s going on here?

“That’s a really good question,” he says, smiling. “What we also learn is the couple are being filmed the whole time they are in space.

“What you have is a reality TV-like situation, a Big Brother in space whereby the audience at home are watching them on their journey.”

There’s another twist; the couple have been trying for a baby for years, they’ve sold their car to pay for IVF. But when they get into space – it takes nine months to reach Mars – they discover Dawn is about to have a space baby.

“This is of the most profound journeys I’ve gone on as an actor,” says Darren.

“We use flashback to explain their previous lives and this is really tricky because we can go from a moment of revealing high energy on stage to a sudden change of mood.

“And it’s a very exposing play for an actor. There are just the two of us on stage with two chairs. There’s nowhere to hide, no lavish sets.”

The story is about hopelessness, about a couple taking off in the hope of an adventure.

But what’s it really about?

“It’s about what we are told by the media, even though it’s not always true,” says the actor, with a wry grin.

“It’s about being fed information. And yes, it’s a conspiracy piece.”

It’s certainly topical. The world is enjoying a run of space movies at the moment, and meanwhile back on Earth millions of people are leaving behind their own hopelessness to try and improve their lives.

“That’s definitely the case. But I’ve got to say the play (by Adam Peck) has some really great comedy moments.

“This is about a married couple trapped in space. How can that not be funny?”

Darren’s enthusiasm for the project, and indeed acting, has most likely been heightened by the fact he came to the business late.

Growing up in Cornwall he’d long had the acting dream in his head, but no clue about how to become a professional.

He enjoyed stints in am-dram, but decided to learn a trade and became a hairdresser. And he was hugely successful, becoming an award-winning, gold medallist stylist and opening his own salon.

“But as I approached thirty, I realised it was now or never and decided to go to drama school.”

He decided to climb the very highest mountain and applied to Bristol Old Vic, one of the country’s most prestigious colleges.

“I was cutting hair that day in the salon when I got the acceptance phone call and it was one of the happiest days of my life.”

He adds, grinning; “The clients were really happy for me, yet sad at the same time realising I wouldn’t be cutting their hair any longer.”

Darren has moved to Bristol to work in theatre and many of his clients travel to see his productions.

But he’s also worked in the west end, and recently toured America with a children’s show, We’re Going On A Bear Hunt.

“We toured 35 states, in four and half months. I was driving the van at one point and drove for sixteen hours straight through.”

During the journey, Darren had to cope with an alcoholic bear, having all his money stolen by a stagehand in New Jersey and working in a Detroit theatre in which the water was brown and the toilet paper decidedly absent.

“I think there’s a book to be written of my adventures,” he admits, and he’s right.

He’s in his element now as an actor. But glad he trained as a hairdresser.

“If I’m quiet I can always cut hair,” he says, smiling.

•140 Million Miles, Oran Mor, Saturday.