The Author, by Tim Crouch, left, creates controversy wherever it goes. On a good night at least 10 per cent of the audience walks out in disgust and, with an 18 certificate, the new play is about to hit Oxford. The question is, can we cope with it?

Tim Crouch is relishing the controversy created by his recently commissioned play The Author, because he loves making people think.

As to whether he’s actually enjoying the pressure of bringing it to the stage, put it this way – Tim now suffers from insomnia, and has taken up jogging to try to alleviate his stress.

“There is no release for me, I have to jog, because The Author is quite a hard thing to be in. But who says art should be easy? I’m not really an angry person but I am getting something off my chest here about how lazy we have become about ethics and how easy it is for abuse and tyranny to be seen through people like us,” he says.

Neither does Tim hide behind the guise of playwright, because the 46-year-old stars in The Author every night. And Tim himself describes his character as ‘a monster’.

“I am in all my plays because I think I should be there to take responsibility for my own work,” he explains.

Finding out what The Author is about is much harder work, but fundamentally it makes you, the audience, question what you see and watch and whether, by doing so, you are implicit in endorsing it. From violence to suicide and paedophilia, Tim confronts all our worst fears in an age when the Internet reigns supreme and any image is just a click away.

“In a way it is a profoundly moral play, almost a Mary Whitehouse experience,” Tim explains. “It just teaches you to be careful about what you watch and what you choose to look at.”

But Tim has also turned the concept of theatre around. He places the audience facing each other and the four actors remain anonymous until the play unfolds. You could be sitting next to one and not realise until they start speaking. “The traditional view is that an audience should sit in the dark, watch and then go home,” Tim says. “If you like sitting in the darkness and being anonymous, this may not be the play for you. But no-one will be picked on and there is no audience participation, but we do all sit together as the story is told.”

So why create all this fuss and contention? “Because it’s fascinating to watch ourselves,” he says. “It’s called The Author, but it could equally be The Audience, because the audience is the author and it unearths many ethical questions. There is no chance to disengage. Violence does dominate but there is no action, just words, which are far more powerful because it plays out in our imaginations and every venue has to take responsibility for that.”

The venue in question is The North Wall in Summertown. So is Tim afraid he’ll offend the audience there?

“Look, it’s story-telling in a room and, if that’s avant garde, then I’m a Dutchman. But I wrote this from the heart and I believe in it passionately. The Author isn’t wacky or wilfully experimental but we ask the audience to immerse themselves in it, and it’s their decision to stay.”

So why do they walk out?

“For a variety of reasons. They want to be in the dark and remain anonymous or they don’t want to generate anything. But walking out is almost self-fulfilling because they don’t want to take responsibility for what they’re watching.”

One thing is for sure. The performance is mesmerising and The Author sells out wherever it goes. Next up is New York.

As Tim puts it: “If it does nothing else, The Author will get people talking, but they need to have an open mind.”

* The Author is at the North Wall in South Parade, Summertown, tomorrow and Saturday, and is for over-18s because of the disturbing imagery. Call the box office on 01865 319450.