DAVID Hayman looks calm for a man about to pull off a feat more associated with magicians than actors.

He's set to split himself in half.

Hayman, one of Scotland's major film, television and theatre talents, is appearing in two plays at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

He's starring in the one man play The Pitiless Storm and later that same day he'll be appearing in dark farce, Darkle.

Now, actors love the challenge of becoming a new character, adopting new mannerisms and making this new creature entirely believable.

But to achieve this twice every day?

"Yes, it's a bit of a challenge," says the Glasgow-born actor, smiling. Alice (his wife) asked me the same question and I said I think it's because I like to go outside of my comfort zone.

"Television is easy and safe and regulated, and if you screw it up you get to do it again, but theatre leaves you completely exposed.

"And I think all proper actors should do theatre at least once a year. I think it really separates the men from the boys."

Hayman could well lay back on the soft mattress that is television given he's continually in demand for dramas such as The Paradise and he's recently filmed new movie Macbeth, starring Michael Fassbender.

But he loves theatre; this after all is a man who once took on the challenge of playing Lady Macbeth.

And while many national-level performers bypass theatre, Hayman will often take to Oran Mor's small lunchtime theatre stage and play to audiences of 200, for a weekly wage that's little more than double that.

He simply loves theatre.

"I do, and what I love about Pitiless Storm and Darkle is they are two completely different plays. And both terrific."

The Pitiless Storm reflects the political zeitgeist. It tells the story of a working class man who has been a traditional Labour supporter all his life but now has to come to terms with the possibility of independence.

"Bob Cunningham is a trade unionist and on the eve of the referendum learns he has been awarded an OBE.

"And now he has to battle with his conscience. Does he take the award?

"In the first half of the play he thinks he will and is practising his speech, but he begins to hear these voices in his head.

"He begins to think about the Iraq war, he thinks about the new hope that was Tony Blair, but then it all went wrong and thinks about New Labour's tuition fees and trials without juries and he has to weigh it all up.

"And he has to decide what he wants for Scotland's future."

The idea for the one-man play came about after David approached playwright pal Chris Dolan.

"I felt we had to capture the mood of so many people, the confusion felt."

Hayman is pro-independence but not an SNP nationalist. He believes in a new radical Scotland and he's confident that after the Yes votes are counted that's the direction the country will take. Despite no real evidence to suggest that's the case?

"I feel our votes are worthless in a UK government anyway," he says. "I feel we have to go it alone."

THE actor believes we will become more democratic, the Scottish voice will be heard and the Scottish Labour Party will be re-born.

"I think we've always had a strong humanitarian bent in Scotland, a real sense of social justice and I think independence will allow for this to flourish."

Darkle is a very different play, written by The Paradise creator Bill Gallagher.

"It was his response to Thatcherism and it's written as a dark farce. It's set in a flat and I play a tabloid-obsessed landlord, and the play features three kids and a dog.

"It's surreal, funny and scary at the end. So it's lovely to do two pieces that are so contrasting."

But he won't have a problem in switching from soul-searching trades unionist to creepy landlord?

"You use your instinct," he says, smiling. "There are 35,000 actors in Britain and there are that many styles. You just go with what you feel, although at the beginning of rehearsals I did wonder if I'd bitten off more than I could chew."

David's next television role should be straightforward. He's playing himself in STV's Weir's Way - With David Hayman.

"In fact, it's not so straightforward," he says, laughing. "After spending a lifetime playing other characters, to play myself is a little odd."

l Darkle, The Space Surgeons Hall, 8.40pm, until August 23.

l The Pitiless Storm, The Assembly Rooms, 12.30pm, until August 24.