In 1963 he secured a short leave of absence to go to London (St. Martin's Theatre) with the Gate Theatre's production of "Stephen D", an adaptation of Joyce's "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" by Hugh Leonard which had been a hit of the 1962 Dublin Theatre Festival. The play was well received by the London critics, leading to offers of further other stage work there including "O'Keefe" in J. P. Donleavy's "The Ginger Man" (Ashcroft, Croydon), Lindsay Anderson's revival of "Julius Caesar" (1964) for the English Stage Company and 1965 as the Burglar (Aubrey "Popsy" Bagot) in Shaw's "Too True to be Good" (Garrick) opposite Alistair Sim and George Cole.