THE ONLY sound actors love to hear while on stage is applause, so loud their ears start to ring.

Or perhaps laughter, so thunderous you worry for the safety of the building.

However, Malcolm James, who's starring in The Woman In Black this week at the Theatre Royal, smiles as he admits he's recently come across a third interruption - which he's only too happy to contend with.

"It's hearing schoolgirls scream," he says, grinning.

"We have school groups coming to the show, because it's part of the school text, and sometimes the 16-year-old girls become so excitable they have to be taken out by the ushers to recover.

"They get rather hyper about it and work themselves into a state."

He adds; "It may be noisy but at least it shows they are engaging with the production.

"And for a lot of them it's their first time in the theatre. It will be a night to remember."

The 'spine-tinglingly scary' play is based on Susan Hill's novel and tells the story of Arthur Kipps, a young solicitor from London who is sent to the North East to deal with some private papers.

Arthur however, encounters a woman in black - is she a spirit, a ghost - and the impact of the sighting sees him begin to lose his sanity.

"These traumatic experiences Arthur suffered as a young man don't leave him," says Malcolm.

"And when he's older and married and talking about ghost stories to his children one night he comes up with an idea to exorcise his own demon."

Arthur hires a young actor to help tell his ghost tale to his family and friends so they will understand why he's still haunted.

"But the young actor who plays the young Arthur Kipps has the idea of turning it into a play, and introducing all the characters Arthur meets along the way."

Which means although there is just a cast of two, the actors get to play multiple characters.

"I get the chance to play six other characters," says Malcolm.

"It's a real challenge."

You mean a chance to show off?

"No, it's called being versatile," he says, laughing.

Malcolm admits he was desperate to appear as Arthur.

"I really wanted to do it and auditioned for the play four years ago for Robin Herford who's directed ever production.

"And I didn't get it. I auditioned again last year and still didn't get it but then I finally wore him down."

How? Blackmail? Bribery?

"That's between Robin and me," he says, grinning.

What's evident from speaking to Malcolm James is he doesn't take himself too seriously - but he does take his work very seriously.

And he simply loves theatre acting.

"I love the business. I've been working for over thirty years and I've had more good years than bad years.

"It's live and I enjoy the nerves it creates in me. And it makes me excited for the audience."

Malcolm didn't go direct to drama school, instead studying at Oxford University.

"I grew up in a working class home in the Black Country and my parents were hoping I'd become a lawyer or whatever.That's where their aspirations lay.

"But I'd done a lot of acting at school, and this carried on at university."

Malcolm's parents finally came round to his career choice.

"When I began working alongside people whom my parents admired, the likes or Dora Bryan, Bernard Bresslaw and Kate O'Mara, they became very supportive," he recalls.

He understands why parents find it hard to countenance such a career decision.

"Sometimes I get asked by parents if their kids should go into acting. But I don't know how to answer that because it's not about talent in this business, it's about luck.

"All I can say is they really have to want to do it."

He adds; "But because it's so expensive to go into acting and pay for fees for courses, it really is the case that it's more wealthy kids who are coming through.

"When I began there was a working class revolution. Not now."

Malcolm has appeared in great theatre work over the years and he cites Alan Bennett's Lady In The Van as an example.

Work such as that, he admits, makes his heart sing.

"It does, but even when you're appearing in a play that's not so great you just try your best to make it work.

"Agatha Christie's are a bit like that. They are very plot led and there's not a lot of character to get into. But your job is to let the story be told."

He adds, smiling; "But when you get a great character in a great play with a great cast and director, you really hold onto those gems."

Does playing Arthur Kipps in a spine-tingling scary play mean the actor is currently holding onto his gems?

"Tightly," he says, grinning.

The Woman In Black, the Theatre Royal, until Saturday.

Television; Brookside for Mersey Television; The Bill for Thames Television.