Ian Brown is the former artistic director of the West Yorkshire Playhouse, the freelance director responsible for Park Theatre’s current run of the sexy comedy Contact.com, written by Michael Kingsbury, and a man who has even dabbled in directing EastEnders. When I asked what first drew him to theatre, then, “I originally wanted to be an actor” was not the answer I expected.

“I was a very bad actor and quickly realised I was more suited to directing” Brown laughs, but he has not lost his appreciation for actors’ perspectives and creativity. In directing Contact.com – a play exploring internet dating, differences between two couples and the struggles of love – his collaboration and good working relationship with the cast helped translate the characters’ dramatic mood swings and tricky speech into a believable production. “Of course,” he points out, “relationships with actors are not always like that”. Perhaps not, but Brown is a director who values his cast. “It’s easy to make actors too self-conscious or micromanage them. Let them fly when they need to fly, and be very human as a director, very understanding and do not put them on the spot”.

Now that Contact.com is running and Brown has had time to reflect, what does he think of the production? Well, he likes it and so, he thinks, do the audience. Brown thinks the class and age difference separating the couples reflects both real relationships and current tensions within society. It is an “interesting play that makes some people uncomfortable. A comedy with content”. Oh, and the cast is “very sexy”.

Largely positive reviews have greeted Contact.com. Though Brown reads reviews very fast – like ripping off a plaster, he agrees – he does not avoid criticism. “You have to read reviews to get a sense of what people are saying, but you must put both good and bad reviews in perspective. They can be quite cruel and hit when you’re at you’re most tired. You’re exhausted and then somebody calls your work a pile of crap!”

Brown tends not to go out much when he is rehearsing and says it can get lonely. The high demands are why he recommends aspiring directors ensure they really want the job by gaining as much experience as possible, even if it is tricky to find opportunities. “It doesn’t matter who you do it with or where you do it – whether it’s with an amateur group, kids or with a couple of your mates – as long as you’re learning and improving bringing words to life,”.

Brown’s experience as Artistic Director for West Yorkshire Playhouse, Traverse Theatre Edinburgh and Tag Citizens’ Theatre Glasgow, challenged him further – exposing him to the negative financial impact of a bad review and a job that truly “never stops…God knows why I wanted to do it, but I did. It involves everything from the state of the toilets to the programme”. Though he enjoyed his successful stints as Artistic Director, Brown is glad to be back concentrating solely on directing and has even made time to work with students at E15 Acting School which he has found very rewarding.

Lonely, exhausting and challenging, but Brown cannot stay away from theatre directing. Though he enjoyed working on EastEnders, he prefers the live experience. “In TV you finish and then move onto the next thing. Whereas in theatre you go back over and over again. It’s partly the repetition of it that’s the interesting bit – and how something develops through that repetition, until you’ve got something that can hold together and carry on without you. The actors then own it.”

Up next for Brown is Frozen. It shares Contact.com’s home, Park Theatre, but that’s about the extent of the similarity: “Frozen is a three person play about why people murder children. I expect a harrowing and powerful rehearsal process”. Between reading up on murder and relaxing after an intense rehearsal process, Brown looks forward to the remaining run of Contact.com and urges audiences to see its funny and relevant exploration of sex, relationships and the society we live in.

Contact.com is playing at Park Theatre until 14 February.