He joined Stuart Burge's company at the Nottingham Playhouse in 1968 playing Trigorin in "The Seagull" and Sir Joseph Surface in Sheridan's "The School For Scandal", both directed by Jonathan Miller. In 1969 he created the role of Fitzpatrick in David Storey's "The Contractor" directed by Lindsay Anderson at the Royal Court Theatre, London. The production later transferred to the Fortune Theatre and ran for over a year. In 1973 he took on the role of Andrew Wyke opposite his friend Donal Donnelly in the Irish premiere of Peter Shaffer's "Sleuth". The production played to acclaim at the Opera House, Cork, and at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin where it broke box office records.