Restoring his humour

A London church may not seem the most appropriate venue to discuss a play about promiscuous sex. But, according to actor Toby Stephens, it couldn't be more fitting: 'It's the best place for it,' he quips. 'It's all part of humanity, after all.'

In the church's back rooms, Stephens is rehearsing his role as Horner, the amoral cad, for Jonathan Kent's revival of William Wycherley's saucy Restoration comedy, The Country Wife. Amid the gilded echelons of London society, Horner mischievously starts a false rumour of his impotence in a bid to secure private access to the high-class, married women of London. As news of his sexual inability spreads, he finds his friends happy to allow him time with their wives, and that the wives are happy for their 'honourable' reputations to stay untarnished by their frolics.

Although written in 1675, Stephens feels The Country Wife not only remains relevant for today's audience but also is possibly more timely than ever. 'It's about sex, which is a great leveller.

I mean, everyone is obsessed with it and the hypocrisy that's involved in it and the ridiculous ends we will go to get it,' he says gleefully. 'As far as I know, sex was a major preoccupation with people in the 17th century as well.

It was a terribly vain age when the celebrities of the time were big deals and I think these surface values are very much relevant today.'

The play's seductive anti-hero seems an apt part for the dashing Stephens, whose previous TV roles have tended to smoulder with sexual appeal, from the lead in The Great Gatsby (2000) to the moody Mr Rochester (2006). However, it also marks a departure from his usual stage repertoire: the comedic Horner sits unexpectedly amid a CV of heavyweight dramatic roles such as his memorable stage turns for the RSC as Coriolanus and Hamlet.

The lighter role is, nonetheless, welcomed by 38-year-old Stephens, who feels it's time to loosen up his image and shake off the formidable legacy of his parents - Dame Maggie Smith and the late, great (and somewhat troubled) Sir Robert Stephens. Stephens senior was famously a heavy drinker; at one point, Toby had a reputation for serious partying as well. 'There was a time when I was obsessed with my father and that wasn't healthy because he wasn't around for a lot of the time,' he says. 'He had an enormously successful career but he also did himself out of a lot of work, which isn't the case for me any more. Just recently, in terms of my work, I think I can finally stand independently of my father.'

Understandably, Stephens is relishing the opportunity to do something completely different. 'I don't get asked to do comedy very often. I think my upbringing doesn't help: the posh voice and looks means I'm often pigeonholed as a serious actor. To do straight-out comedy really liberates a side of me that people don't often see.'

He is deadly serious about the theatre, though, and no more so than when discussing the populist West End and the current fashion for Hollywood actors taking starring roles. So he's naturally pleased that the Theatre Royal Haymarket is currently challenging the trend with a new in-house company.

The concept sees a different artistic director take the helm for three productions. Kent, the Almeida's former artistic director, whom Stephens has much admiration for, is first in line with The Country Wife, to be followed early next year by Edward Bond's The Sea and the musical Marguerite.