Portrait of the artist as a young man

Cillian Murphy may be playing the lead role in Druid’s current production of The Playboy Of The Western World; he may be set to take on a role as one of the villains in the next Batman movie, but there’s still a part of the guy that would love his old job back. That is, as a member of The Sons Of Mr Green Genes, the rock band he originally formed at 18 with his 16-year-old brother Paidi. That title, as any of you Zappa fans will know, comes from the album Hot Rats.

Indeed, Murphy himself is such a self-professed “Zappa freak” that, the last time we talked for this column two years ago, he spent most of his time quizzing me on my visit to Zappa’s home only months before he died. It comes as little surprise when singer-guitarist Cillian admits that even though his band have long since broken up, he still plays music with his mates and that the only extravagant thing about his lifestyle is his “stereo system, buying music and going to gigs.” Music, it seems, has always been an important part of his life. So too has acting, ever since the day Cillian got a “huge high” in his class at Presentation College Cork when the Artistic Director of the Corcadorca Theatre Company, Pat Kiernan, gave a drama module in the school.
“When I was playing music it was the same,” he says. “You get this rush up your spine – like drugs or good sex. Something in you just goes ‘yes!’ and you are fully alive for that moment. So chasing that feeling is what it’s all about for me. And I did get that feeling first during that drama module. Then later again, I went to see Corcadorca shows like A Clockwork Orange and it was so f**king cool! Not staid old theatre at all! So I thought, ‘There really is something special in all this’, and ‘Pat Kiernan is the coolest guy in Cork!’”
And that’s what led to Cillian later getting his break in Kiernan’s production of Disco Pigs. Much later. In fact, Murphy’s band was offered a recording contract by an acid-jazz label but “the deal was really bad” so he did a Law Degree instead – though he failed his first years exams because he’d no ambition for it and soon ended up in hugely successful Disco Pigs. Years later Cillian appeared in the movie of the same name, as well as the zombie classic 28 Days Later. He’s also currently to be seen in Cold Mountain and The Girl With A Pearl Earring but thinks it is “lazy journalism” when media commentators claim he is ‘the next Colin Farrell.’ Actually, they are buddies but I, for one, can’t see Colin taking time off his movie commitments to commit for such a long period to a stage production like The Playboy of the Western World. So why is Cillian making that commitment? Put simply, largely because this is a Druid production, it’s directed by Garry Hynes – who’s previously directed Murphy in The Country Boy and Juno And The Paecock – and he realises he has “so much still to learn” about his craft.
“I’d like to continue to do at least one play a year because it brings you back to the roots of what you are all about as an actor” he says. “Largely because it’s very rare you get extended scenes in films. But theatre is f**king magic in that sense! And Garry is magic. I really think she is the best director around. For one thing, her depth of knowledge on Synge, this play and the environment its set in is second to none. And she’s really such a great director. She can see through a text to the core emotion of a thing. She’ll say, ‘Don’t be an actor on stage thinking about your lines, be true to those lines, feel them, give them some truth’, which is great because then you become an actor serving the role, rather than the role serving you so you can deliver a ‘ great performance.’ It’s just so exciting to be in a room with her and I know that excitement will be translated onto the stage.”

The Playboy Of The Western World opens at the Gaiety theatre on February 23