THERE are two Tony Ropers. First there is the extrovert actor,

specialising in comedy, like the new series of BBC Scotland's Naked

Video now being networked on BBC2 on Thursday nights. He is also an

indispensable member of Rikki Fulton's Hogmanay Scotch and Wry

programmes. He is a useful man to have at Edinburgh Festival time,

having appeared in The Thrie Estaites and in Billy Connolly's first

play, The Red Runner, at the Traverse.

The other Tony Roper is the quieter, sympathetic, thoughtful person,

author of The Steamie, the most popular new stage work to have been

produced in Scotland in recent years. It also proved to be another

Hogmanay hit with the Scottish Television version shown on Channel 4.

Now there are plans for it to be transferred to the West End. It has

been a runaway success, yet Tony is now able to reveal that it did not

happen overnight. The play was completed five years ago and he hawked

around various stage and television companies before Wildcat gave it its

premiere at the Crawfurd Theatre of Jordanhill College last year.

''I am not comparing myself with the Beatles or Elvis, but they were

turned down by all sorts of people before they made their

breakthrough,'' he says.

After that, it went on tour and was a sell-out wherever it was staged.

The success will no doubt be a continuing story as the work is revived

over future years. It received much critical acclaim, but there is no

doubt that it was word-of-mouth reaction that got it off the ground. It

struck an immediate chord with the public who realised it was preserving

a bit of Glasgow's social history that could so easily have been

forgotten by succeeding generations.

The hardship, the warmth, the humour, the bravery of making life

bearable for women of various age groups in a Glasgow slum not so many

years ago are brought out with a great richness. This was a form of

group therapy. As a very small child, Roper accompanied his own mother

to the steamie in Cranstonhill two or three times, which must have made

an impression. But he believes that the success has sprung from the fact

that the play has a universal theme that will be recognised throughout

the world, and that is of the strength of women, as opposed to the macho

males, in oppressed situations.

Moments of disbelief

Of The Steamie, he says: ''Really, all I did was put characters that I

knew into that situation. I realised there was an institution there that

hadn't been tapped. I had felt for a long time that in other works

writers were just getting their own grievances off their chests. I went

and researched the subject in the City Chambers. There's lots of stuff I

didn't put on because I knew people wouldn't believe it. For instance,

they used to have Steamie dances. As an actor, I'm very conscious of

moments of disbelief and you can feel the audience slipping away.''

Aged 47, he was born in Anderston, Glasgow, just round the corner from

Billy Connolly. Also brought up in the same district was actor Roddy

MacMillan and singer/actress Terry Neason. All four, at different times,

worked in Bilsland's bakery and he and Connolly had spells in the

shipyards. In his spare time, Tony worked with a lot of major amateur

companies, as did Rikki Fulton, and entered drama college in Glasgow at

the mature age of 26.

So far The Steamie has made about #10,000 for him personally. It has

also provided a good income for a lot of other people. He has already

been paid for the rights of the West End production.

Having made the breakthrough as a writer, he has now been commissioned

to do two new dramas -- one for the Tron Theatre, Glasgow, and one for

Scottish Television. Both are due on stream in 1990, when Glasgow will

be European City of Culture.