The Confessions of Gordon Brown

Norie Miller Room Perth Concert Hall May 30 - 31

PLAYING A real-life – and currently very much alive – public figure is a challenge for an actor. You want to make him recognisable and believable but not create a comedy impression or a caricature.

Perth-based actor Ian Grieve is about to resume the mantle of greatness when he returns to the stage as Gordon Brown in a play that has been a sell-out hit wherever it has been performed.

The Confessions of Gordon Brown has been described as a “searing satire of the hidden arts of modern political leadership” and the flawed anti-hero as “a Macbeth crossed with Lear”.

Written by author and film-maker Kevin Toolis, who refers to his central subject as the “thrawn king” of New Labour, it’s not too much to say it’s Shakespearean in scope and ambition, not least because the seeds of the central character’s tragedy are found within his own character flaws.

Ian is at pains to point out that it is far from a hatchet job, however.

“Kevin approached me through a friend and we skyped before we met and decided to do it. It’s a great play, the script is so good, although it raises a few eyebrows. But we’re not a lynch mob – it’s sympathetic, concerned with the man’s humanity.

“It’s about power and politics and how a man like Gordon Brown – erudite and clever to have reached the position he did and reputation he had – reached for the crown and lost it. Hamlet, Lear, Othello, the Scottish King [Macbeth to us non-actors!] – it touches on all of that. But they say we get the politicians we deserve, so what does it say about us?

“We wanted to find his different voices, what made him tick, what made him angry, why he did what he did. At heart, he’s a good man with a moral compass who tries to play the game – and there, but for the grace of God, go a lot of us. He couldn’t play the game – and I couldn’t either, I’d be useless at that.

“He was in the right place at the wrong time when his party had changed the political landscape quite ruthlessly to become electable, following polls and going down the hair, tie and bleaching teeth path. And he didn’t fit in with that new image.

“When the crown finally comes to him, that’s when things start to go badly wrong.”

The action starts around the time of the “election-that-never-was” at the end of 2007 and was originally conceived as a film – as was another interesting “week is a long time in politics” moment – the five days in May 2010 when Britain didn’t have a government.

Ian explained: “It’s a bit of a pet project of Kevin’s – I’ve never seen anyone work so hard; he was definitely the secret weapon for all the sell-outs we’ve had. I never understood the power of social media – Kevin told me I should tweet and now I know its power!”

Previews in London last year attracted a lot of politicos. Ian revealed: “I spoke to a charming bloke who talked about when he worked with Brown and Blair and obviously knew that world – he turned out to be Andy Burnham.

“That suddenly reminds you that it’s real. I think as the character but people look and see the real person.

“Someone said it was like being in the room with him. I’m not a lookalike but I have had ladies hissing that they never voted for me! I’m not politically affiliated but generally, the Tories were game for a laugh – it was fascinating meeting people like Victoria Bottomley.

“Scottish and London audiences are different – the Scots get the jokes and the sense of humour, the laughing at themselves; the Londoners got the in-jokes and political gags.

“But you don’t need to know a massive amount about politics to get the play – that’s me, even though I read a lot of what had been written by Alastair Campbell, Nick Robinson, John Simpson. And they were all at the show!

“At one point I found myself in the Sky newsroom with Dermot Murnaghan and after it, an amazing number of people at home said they’d seen me.

“I was a celebrity for a bit which was nice but strange. I wouldn’t like it all the time!”

Ian has also recently appeared with Wales’Theatr Clwyd and in Cars & Boys at Dundee Rep – “that was great; I like coming back there” – and is also currently in the midst of producing and appearing in a film, Time Teens – The Beginning, set in Perthshire and Angus.

“We’re doing it to prove it can be done, that a feature film can be made here.

“I wrote the story for my kids a few years ago and we’ve called in a lot of favours from Scottish theatre actors!

“It’s serious stuff – not your wee video camera. There’s a trailer onYouTube.

“We want to show that with a bit of investment, we can have a film industry in this area. We don’t need a big studio complex – we need will and imagination, creativity and talent.”

After the Perth performances of Confessions, Ian is heading to London with the play and then to the Edinburgh Fringe to reprise its success of 2013.

“It’s rare to get the chance to re-do a role but it also evolves – I’m looking forward to the ride.”

Ian Grieve as Gordon Brown.