The Croft, Ali Milles’ chilling thriller, heads for the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford in June as part of a UK tour beginning next month in Salisbury and ending eight weeks later at the Liverpool Playhouse.

A strong cast features Liza Goddard (Doctor Who, Bergerac), Caroline Harker (A Touch of Frost, Steel Magnolias, The Railway Children) and Gray O’Brien in an atmospheric piece based on a true Highland story.

In the remote Scottish Highlands, two women arrive at a former crofter’s hut in the deserted village of Coille Ghillie. Suddenly, the weekend getaway takes an unexpected turn. Cut off from the modern world, Laura and Suzanne find themselves drawn into the dark history of the croft and the lives that passed before them.

In the bold and haunting play the present interweaves with the past as ancient tales surface and the terrifying truth lurking in the croft is revealed. The past will not be silenced.

The Croft is produced by Original Theatre as part of the award-winning theatre company’s 20th anniversary season.

In 2020, Original Theatre released a filmed version of The Croft on its digital theatre platform Original Online, after a previous critically acclaimed tour was halted halfway through, due to the Covid lockdown.

In this question and answer session, the former Coronation Street and Casualty star Gray O’Brien, who plays David, discusses his latest stage role in The Croft, and how surviving cancer has changed him.

What drew you to the production?

Mainly the fact the character’s Scottish, so I don’t have to do an accent! No, the truth is that it was actually piece of luck. I got a call from a friend of mine, Ben Nealon, saying that his neighbour, Liza Goddard, was doing a show called The Croft, and wanted some help with the dialect. So he put us in touch, and I helped her over WhatsApp, and then thought nothing more about it. Then a few months later I got a call from my agent saying they were sending me the script for The Croft. I thought I’d just dip into it, and found myself reading the entire thing in a single sitting, which is always a good sign. I thought it was really interesting, and very theatrical.

Tell us a bit more about the story

It’s set in a place called Coillie Ghille, up in the Highlands, where there are lots of crofts. There isn’t much else there at all. In the play a young woman takes her new partner to stay in a holiday home there, and they come across the gamekeeper, played by myself. Through them we learn more about the background of the area, and the house in particular. I don’t want to give too much more away – but I can guarantee there’ll be a lot of talking at the interval.

You are well known for your screen work, but how much do you enjoy being on stage?

I’ve done an awful lot of television, but because I played a well-known villain [Tony Gordon in Coronation Street], I’ve tended to be pigeonholed in those kind of roles. It was a great experience, and it changed my life, but it also stopped my life in a way. However in theatre I get to play a much broader range of characters, which is a really good challenge. I look on acting as a trade. My dad was a joiner, and for me it’s nice to be able to use a range of different tools rather than just one.

Did you always want to be an actor?

When I was in primary school, a teacher asked me what I wanted to do when a grew up. I said, “I want to be an actor.” They asked me if I knew what an actor does, and apparently I said “no, but I’d still like to be one”. So there was obviously something there. I subsequently did some am-dram when I was a teenager, and I remember the feeling of adrenaline, the buzz. After that I got into drama school at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (then called the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama), and never looked back. But it’s an unusual thing in my family – I’ve got six siblings, and I’m the only one who does anything artistic.

What was your breakthrough role?

I got my first job the day I graduated, in Treasure Island at the Edinburgh International Festival in 1990. It was directed by Frank Dunlop and had an amazing cast including Hywel Bennett, Des McNamara, Harold Innocent, Richard Lintern, and another new actor called David Harewood. So that was a great way to start, and soon after I got a part in Taggart, which led to me becoming a regular, and then Casualty and Peak Practice. It was a wonderful era. I think it’s much harder to get into the business now, and to make a living from it.

You have spoken movingly about your recent recovery from cancer. Did the experience alter your perspective?

It did, in that I don’t care about certain things as much as I used to. When you face something like that, when it’s touch and go whether you’ll survive, you tend not to worry about other things so much. I used to get completely panicked about whether I was getting jobs or not, or whether the phone was ringing. But now I really don’t mind. I feel very lucky. I became a grandfather recently, which has been incredibly emotional. I realised it was my purpose for living. Every time I see my grandson now I burst into tears.

Has it impacted your approach to acting?

The only time I shed a tear during my treatment was when I asked the doctor if I would still be able to act, and he replied “I don’t know”. Others who’ve gone through tonsil cancer have lost their voice. I was very, very lucky that I didn’t. There are other issues, for example I can’t produce saliva because my glands were damaged. So I need to find a way to drink while I’m on stage, but we’ve always found a solution – in the last play I did they added a water cooler on the set.

The Croft is a ghost story. Do you believe in the supernatural?

I used to think it was all complete hokum. And then a few years ago I got introduced to a medium, called Cara, by someone I was working with. When I got to her front door, she went to embrace me and it was like someone had stuck a hot poker in my chest. Then she did a reading, during which my late Dad started talking to me. It was one of the most emotive things I’ve ever experienced, so now I do believe in it, and I’m still in regular touch with Cara. She’s an amazing woman.

How do you relax away from work?

I’m a big walker. I love to be out in the wilds. I always find that within 20 yards of starting out walking my head is cleared. So I’m looking forward to exploring lots of new places when I’m out on tour.