Bryan Murray currently stars as Bob Charles, once owner of McCoys pub but now the owner of The Hungry Pig restaurant, in the RTÉ soap opera Fair City. He is well known for his role as Flurry Knox in The Irish R.M. and Shifty Boswell in the popular sitcom Bread, his role in Brookside is easily the best remembered, even though he was only in the show for eleven episodes in 1993. His character, the wife beater and child abuser Trevor Jordache, was famously stabbed and killed by his wife, Mandy (Sandra Maitland) and daughter Beth (Anna Friel). They later buried his body under the patio, where it was discovered in 1995.
Bryan will be starring in In Search of Mr. B in The Civic from next Monday, 23rd March for two weeks. We chatted to Bryan in advance of the show to find out a little more about him.
How did you get into acting and what’s your first memory of wanting to act and perform?
My first memory is being with my parents at The Theatre Royal in Dublin a thousand years ago and looking at the stage show and saying to myself’ ‘I want to do that’.
What was your first job?
My first professional job as an actor was in The Abbey Theatre when I took over the leading part from Donal McCann in ‘The Hostage’ by Brendan Behan in 1971.
What secret skill or talent do you have?
I make great roast potatoes.
What is your ultimate guilty pleasure?
Another glass of wine.
Do you tweet? What do you think of social media?
I don’t tweet. The very idea of letting people I hardly know know where I am and what I am doing and how much I am enjoying doing it is my idea of hell.
Who would you like to have dinner with – James Joyce or Samuel Beckett?
I would like to have dinner with them both to find out what their relationship was really like and if it compares to Beckett’s version in the play!
What do you consider the greatest work of art?
Gosh, that answer would change from moment to moment. Right now Beethoven: Symphony #7 In A, Op. 92 – 2. Allegretto.
Have you ever had an embarrassing moment on stage?
Not that I can remember but it’s never too late!
What can audiences expect from ‘In Search of Mr. B’?
I think then can expect to be entertained, to laugh, to be moved and be informed.
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In Search of Mr. B opens on Monday, 23rd March and runs until Saturday, 4th April 2015. Tickets are on sale here: http://www.civictheatre.ie/whats-on/in-search-of-mr-b/
