Dan Sherer doesn't get star-struck.

Working with Mike Leigh - one of the UK's top film and theatre directors - was an "absolute delight", but he kept his feet firmly on the ground.

It will be the same when his theatre company performs at this year's Edinburgh Festival. Then there is the month-long stint in the autumn at York's Theatre Royal which, by all accounts, is to die for. Still, nothing to go overboard about. All part of learning his craft as a young director.

But mention Colchester United and, well, he almost whooped with glee at the prospect of Teddy Sheringham coming to Layer Road.

"My stepbrother, Ollie, is on his way to the U's shop as we speak, and I told him to get me a U's shirt with Ted and the number 8 on the back," he said. "I am more than ready for Ted - I can't wait!"

As far as he is concerned European success for the U's is now only a season away. If Sheringham could do it for Manchester United in 1999, why not for the U's ten years later? Dan has no doubts and can't wait for the season to begin.

"Trouble is, I won't be around for the first game - I'll be in Edinburgh."

There was a slight pause.

"Maybe, I'll just fly down and watch the game."

He laughed. He is committed to the U's, but he is even more committed to his work. It's a commitment which is paying off, too. He may only be 24, but Dan Sherer is an emerging talent in the very competitive world of theatre.

Dan was born in Manchester but moved to Colchester with his parents when he was only months old.

"That makes me a Colcestrian," he declared. "I love this place - I really do. Home? Definitely."

He was a pupil at Hamilton School, then Ipswich School and, for his A-levels, Colchester Sixth Form College. And the theatre? When he joined, aged 13, the newly-formed Wivenhoe Youth Theatre, he realised it was in his blood - although why, with no theatre connections in his family, that should be so, he has no idea.

"For about seven years the youth theatre was my social life," he revealed. "It was an extraordinary time."

The members were all around the same age. Crucially, they all got the chance to direct as well as act. At 13, Dan had suddenly realised he didn't want to do anything other than direct.

"I never waivered," he stressed. "There was nothing else I wanted to do, but it never felt like I made a choice, you know? It just couldn't have been anything else."

He didn't take theatre studies at A-level (he opted for history, English and classical civilisations) and chose social anthropology at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He wanted to read subjects not directly connected with theatre, to widen his knowledge. But he never gave up directing.

After he left Pembroke in 2003 he applied and got one of only two places on a 12-month directing course at the Royal Academy for Dramatic Arts (Rada). The course began in 2004. A few months later he had cut his teeth with the Royal Shakespeare Company and then became assistant director under Richard Wilson at London's Royal Court.

But Dan's take on directing was more than telling actors where to stand and when to exit, stage left. He wanted to help actors really act. He wanted to encourage improvisation. He wanted to do his own work. In other words, he needed his own company.

That happened after meeting Anna Bewick, general manager of the Pursued by a Bear theatre company. With more than a little help from the Mercury Theatre - which ensured Arts Council East funding - and unconditional support from Dan's family, Real Circumstance Theatre Company came into the world in 2005.

But it wasn't all Real Circumstance. Dan still needed more experience as a director - hence his time with the incomparable Mr Leigh at the National's Lyttleton Theatre.

"But when my nine months as a staff director were coming to a close, I realised it was becoming increasingly important for me to be directing my own work," he explained. "We had to concentrate on our company."

That was less than 12 months ago. On July 24, Colchester gets a sneak preview of the fruits of his labours when Real Circumstance comes to the Arts Centre with Limbo, its professional debut. Then it's the Edinburgh Festival, a regional tour and a month at the Theatre Royal, York.

So, would that be goodbye Colchester? Apparently, not. Even though he now rents a flat in south London, Dan still counts his mother and stepfather's house in West Bergholt as home.

"My family - mum, dad, stepdad, brother, stepbrother - have always been there for me through all my doubts. But at the end of the day I know it would be anathema not to direct," he said. "I honestly believe I would be physically sick if I couldn't direct."