My Cultural Life

WISHAW-BORN actor Paul Higgins first grabbed the attention as Peter Capaldi’s even swearier Scottish sidekick Jamie McDonald in political satire The Thick Of It, and followed that with high-profile roles in much-loved

BBC drama Line Of Duty and cult Channel 4 hit Utopia.

Most recently he played Struan

Loy alongside Gary Oldman and fellow Scot Jack Lowden in awardwinning spy drama Slow Horses. A member of the original 2006 cast of National Theatre of Scotland smash hit Black Watch (Lowden featured in the 2010 revival), Higgins returns to the stage this month to star in one-man show This Is Memorial Device. A hit at the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe, it is adapted from the novel by musician and critic David Keenan and has music by Stephen McRobbie of Glasgow indie legends The Pastels.

What’s the last book you read?

Doppelganger by Naomi Klein. It’s inspired by her being increasingly mistaken for Naomi Wolf, whom she did once admire. But as Wolf has morphed into a conspiracy theorist the confusion has become alarming. It examines how false narratives have gained traction in recent years.

What’s the last film you saw in a cinema?

The excellent documentary Getting It Back: The Story Of Cymande. (The description on the BFI website has striking parallels with This Is Memorial Device: “The story of a band you may never have heard of

It’s like a magic spell”). They are selftaught musicians from South London who had some success in the US in the early 1970s, made three very influential albums, but were met with indifference and racism in the UK. They disbanded in 1974 but later inspired, and were sampled by, many famous rap and hip-hop artists, some of whom are interviewed. The ending is a surprise. The music is great and it’s funny, disturbing, enlightening and moving.

What music are you listening to a lot and what do you like about it?

I saw Tall Heights at the Lexington in December and have been listening to them a lot since. They’re a guitarist and a cellist who write beautiful songs and sing glorious harmonies. The track Spirit Cold is a great place to start. The Mountain is another.

What musical instrument do you wish you could play?

I’ve played guitar since I was 12 but wish I’d practised more, and been more aware of the possibilities, when I was younger. I take lessons now. If only.

What have seen recently that you think was completely over-rated?

I don’t know, because I’m a great stopper of reading/watching/ listening especially of things set in worlds, and inhabited by people, I don’t recognise. Artists are worried about AI but so much work is already a regurgitation of previous work. The actual world is right in front of our eyes but our references, too often, are movies.

What has been your most formative cultural experience?

Just before I was due to start at Glasgow University I went with friends on a two-week youth theatre camp near Cumbernauld. We devised a show about the Jonestown massacre, and I was given the part of Jim Jones. I’d sung in musicals but hadn’t considered being an actor for a single second before that. I got my entry to Glasgow deferred for a year so I could audition for drama schools, and ended up going to Central in London. I have looked back, but not too much.

What’s your go-to YouTube video?

I’m a sucker for babies getting their nails cut or trying Kiwi fruit or getting down to Beyoncé. Rick Beato’s interviews with musicians. Yoga classes, particularly Breathe And Flow, Kassandra, and old 30 Days Of Movement videos from Alo Yoga. (We had to do yoga when we were rehearsing the original production of Black Watch and it was a revelation.)

What was the most memorable recent theatre show you saw?

The Confessions at the National Theatre, written and directed by Alexander Zeldin. A beautifullyobserved telling of a woman’s story, from teens to old age. No hype or synthetic dramatics, and we were trusted to form our own opinions.

The acting was superb.

You’re in a station or airport ahead of a journey. What magazine do you grab?

The Economist usually has several interesting articles and it’s good to venture out of the liberal, artsy bubble occasionally for a bit of business, tech and science. I used to subscribe but it’s weekly and I didn’t like it THAT much.

Spy dramas or cop shows (and why)?

The riveting French spy series The Bureau helped us through lockdown. Great acting and storytelling.

Who’s your favourite comedian and why?

Bo Burnham is amazing. Great jokes, music, insight, and he doesn’t pander. I love his Country Song (Pandering).

Favourite living author and why?

Alice Munro. She writes about being alive in a complex, absorbing and entertaining way. She’s trying to get to us as we are.

Favourite song?

The Stan Getz/Bob Brookmeyer version of A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square is probably the song I’ve listened to most in the last five years. I sang it at my father-in-law’s funeral as he used to work in Berkeley Square.

Favourite film?

A Separation by Asghar Farhadi. No goodies or baddies, just characters in very difficult situations trying to get what they want while remaining good people in their own eyes. And it’s a window on life in Tehran.

Recommend a podcast

The New Yorker Fiction Podcast. Writers from all over the world choose a short story (not their own) from the New Yorker archive, read it to you, then discuss it with the magazine’s fiction editor. There are 200 of them, all free more windows on the world.

This is Memorial Device comes to Glasgow Tron (27-30 March), Edinburgh Traverse Theatre (3-6 April) and Lemon Tree, Aberdeen (18-20 April), before heading to London’s Riverside Studios (23 April-11 May)