A West End Friend

Ross from Friends is standing on the stage of the Gielgud Theatre, gazing intently into the empty stalls of the century-old, goldleafed auditorium.

'This is my dream,' he says in a voice filled with awe. 'I love being in an empty theatre.' The theatre won't be empty for long. A year after the end of the world's most popular sitcom, David Schwimmer has chosen to appear on the West End stage in the world premiere of Neil LaBute's play, Some Girl(s).

It's a challenging role, requiring him to be onstage throughout, and to face critics who may be sceptical of his credentials after a decade of typecasting as the nerdy Ross Geller in Friends.

'I know some of them will watch me and say it's just Ross,' he sighs. 'They always do.'

Nerdy is certainly not how you'd describe the real-life Schwimmer: more than 6ft tall, he has an athletic frame and a thoughtful, slightly intense manner. Eloquent and passionate about his work, he considers questions seriously, answers them with a mixture of honesty, caution and deadpan wit, puncturing his seriousness with Ross-like chuckles of laughter.

Since the last episode of Friends, which the cast watched together - 'It was really emotional, there were tears' - he has directed two episodes of Matt LeBlanc's spin-off, Joey, and kept in touch with the others socially. 'We see each other sporadically, because everyone is in different parts of the world. But we haven't been together as a group.'

Theatre is Schwimmer's first love, and he relishes the challenge of the West End. 'This is something I've wanted to do since I was 12,' he explains. It's what every Hollywood star says when they come to the West End (and Schwimmer's arrival coincides with those of Val Kilmer and Brooke Shields). But it's also true.

'When I was 13 I went to a Shakespeare workshop by Ian McKellen,' he recalls. 'From that moment, this was my dream.' He was winning prizes at Shakespeare festivals in his early teens, studied drama at university in Chicago and set up the Looking Glass Theatre Group there after graduation.

He still writes, directs and performs for the company, acclaimed for its cutting-edge productions and inventive literary adaptations, and he keeps a second home in the Windy City. He has also appeared regularly in theatre in LA, his main home, during gaps between his hectic TV schedule. He's not just here to boost his credibility as a serious actor. The smell of the greasepaint is in his blood.

Schwimmer, 38, has a ritual before going onstage. 'I tend to arrive at the theatre early - about an hour-and-a-half before the show - because I need time to forget about my day.' He even has his own superstitions about the theatre, which is why he has arranged for time alone there. 'I know it sounds weird, but the more familiar I am with my environment, the safer I feel. And I guess I feel the space will help me do what I need to do.'

What he needs to do in Some Girl(s), a dark comedy that probes the male fear of commitment, is portray an Everyman figure - 'The Man' - who looks up four exgirlfriends (played by Saffron Burrows, Catherine Tate, Lesley Manville and Sara Powell) just before he gets married. 'I think it has a lot to do with fear but, more accurately, I think it's about the courage, or lack thereof, to fall in love,' he says.

Schwimmer admits he has drawn on his own experiences for the role. In 2002 he broke up with actress Mili Avital after four years together, citing difficulty reconciling his own career ambitions with her desire to start a family. 'Mili was the relationship that was most profound for me,' he admits.