Pop Culturalist Chats With Andy Murray

Andy Murray is a force to be reckoned with in The Seafarer at the Irish Repertory Theatre. His performance as Sharky, in what is essentially an ensemble piece, is magnetic. We were able to chat with him about the play, his role, and the craft of stage acting.

PC: How did you get into acting? What drew you to it as a profession?
Andy: My story is a little unusual because I didn’t start acting until I was 32. I grew up outside of London; I left London when I was 25. I’d never done any acting in school—no school plays or anything. I tended bar. [Acting] was something I never really thought about, and then I was like “Ah, there are some interesting things to think about.” [because] I had seen a play and enjoyed it. I kept tending bar for a few years until I got my union card. I took an acting class when I was in Philadelphia when I was 31. Then I moved to San Francisco. Before I moved to New York eight years ago, I was in the San Francisco Bay area just doing theater…so that was that.

PC: Were you familiar with The Seafarer before you were cast?
Andy: Yeah, I knew the play. I knew Conor McPhearson’s stuff. I actually had seen it in London when they first did it at the National Theatre…which was probably 12-13 years ago.

PC: So you went from being familiar with it to then being a part of it. How did that change the way you thought about the play or felt about it?
Andy: That’s a good question…some things remain the same. I always thought it was a great ensemble play. I asked to be seen for Sharky, because I knew [Ciarán O’Reilly, the director]; I sent Ciarán an email saying, “Listen I’ve asked my agent to submit me for Sharky, or Mr. Lockheart, the devil. If you see me as one of the other guys, I’m happy to come in and read for them. I’d be happy to play anyone in the play.” Having said that, Sharky is for me. So I guess that’s what changed for me: being inside the play [has made] Sharky’s journey become more vivid to me rather than [seeing] the whole thing as an ensemble.

PC: As you said, this really is an ensemble piece, and there was such good chemistry between all of you. Was that something you prepared for or is that something that naturally came out in the rehearsal process?
Andy: I think it came out naturally. Mick [Michael Mellamphy], who plays Ivan in the play itself, is quite possibly the nicest guy I’ve met in my life. [In the play] Ivan is the person Sharky seems closest to or has the best relationship with—he doesn’t fight with him and seems genuinely happy to see Ivan. So, immediately, that’s an easy thing. You don’t even need to think about acting it; it’s just there. I like the guy. The other dynamics with the other characters just seemed to happen. Ciarán, I think, just cast it really well. We get on great.

PC: Did you do anything to prepare to play Sharky? Or did you, as you said, in the rehearsal process and diving more into his character and journey just fall into him that way?
Andy: I read the play a lot in the weeks leading up. That really increased for me [compared to other shows]. I wanted to be free to get into immediately the emotional and psychological aspects of the guy. So for three weeks, I read the play. I went over my lines once or twice a day sometimes. I was in a more advanced place than I’d ever been in for any play before. That really helped because then I was free to kind of explore more of the other side of it—the really important side. Obviously, the lines are great—he’s a great writer—but you have to find the other stuff.

PC: Are there parts of Sharky that you personally identify with?
Andy: That’s a big question…Yeah. I mean, I know what it’s like to be angry. Not that I’m any angrier than anyone else, but I’ve experienced anger in my life. It’s not been problematic in the way it has been for Sharky. My drinking’s never been a problem; I’ve never been a fighter. There is some violence in my family; my brother—who died four years ago and was also an actor—was a very violent man. So I grew up exposed to some level of violence, though not directed toward me.

I think things are quite heightened for Sharky. Things have gone off with his wife, he’s estranged from his kids, and his jobs [dry up]. But, like any great play hopefully, everyone can see points in their life reflected in it even if they can’t articulate it for themselves.

PC: Since you had seen the previous production of it, when you were preparing for it, did you draw on any of that? Or did you want to make it completely different from what you had seen?
Andy: You know, it was a long time ago and none of it hung around me at all. It was really fresh. You always draw from yourself and your own experiences. You can’t help but draw from other performances you’ve seen—not of the play, but of actors dealing with situations that happen by osmosis. It’s not something you think, “Oh I remember seeing this, and I’m going to do it.” That said, I think there are little things you steal from what you’ve seen before that’s your own little secret. Like, “I remember seeing so-and-so do this, but I’ll never tell a soul.”

PC: Aside from stage work, you’ve done screen work. Are there particular challenges for screen versus stage?
Andy: They’re obviously similar in some ways, but there are differences. I hadn’t done any camera work when I moved to New York, but I really enjoy the little TV and film work I’ve done because of those different challenges. It’s a bit of a cliché to say, but obviously the size of it [is different] in terms of how interior you can be and how you don’t have to push energy out the whole time.

When you’re on stage, even in a small stage, a lot of it is about the technical aspect and the energy you have to put out to communicate to the audience. When you get in front of the camera, it’s refreshing that I don’t have to put out that kind of energy. You just feel something a little more interior and psychological. I always say, stick a camera in my face and let me mumble for a few minutes. I like the mumbling. I like the focus. I like the fact that there are 50-60 people around. There’s always chaos, but it all comes down to this little period of time where it’s just you and whoever.

PC: Out of all of your acting roles you’ve had, what has been your most memorable acting experience?
Andy: This one’s up there in terms of the journey, the role, and my feeling that I’m doing the best work that I can. Funny, in the other theater there’s a play called Woman and Scarecrow with Stephanie Roth Haberle in it. I saw her a couple weeks ago for the first time in maybe 10-12 years. We did, on the west coast, Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale together; I was Laertes and she was Hermione, my wife. That reminded me that [role] was one of my favorites. It is a beautiful play. That was a great experience as well.

PC: Looking ahead in your career is there a type of role or a specific role that you have on your wishlist?
Andy: It certainly would be more contemporary stuff. I like doing stuff in small houses. I’ve done a lot of classical plays—over forty Shakespeare productions. So, new stuff, really. Like Martin McDonagh. I’ve done Pillowman. I auditioned for Hangmen. I’d like to do more stuff like that. More gritty, contemporary stuff. [But] a lot of the stuff doesn’t get done unless you start your own little theater company; certainly in New York, due to the nature of New York and the way it’s structured [where] people from film and TV are happy to come and do a Broadway play, it’s harder. So it’s kind of luck to get to do a play like The Seafarer where you can play an incredible role in it.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

Last Show You Have Binge-Watched
I haven’t watched television in fifteen years. I do get DVDs for movies I want to see. So I’ve never really binge-watched. I watched Deadwood. It’s one of my favorite things of all-time, but that was a long time ago.

Favorite Movie
The film I’ve enjoyed most in the past few years—which I’ve seen maybe 4-5 times—is The Great Beauty. I loved that. I loved Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master. I’m a huge fan of a film called Somewhere by Sofia Coppola. Another one I love is The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. If you’ve never read that book, it’s a great book.

Favorite Book
Money by Martin Amis…who is my favorite writer.

Favorite Play
True West, Sam Shepard

Musician or Band You Could Listen to on Repeat
Never Mind the Bollocks by the Sex Pistols

Favorite Place You’ve Been to
Manhattan

Place You Most Want to Travel to
Berlin

Person You Most Want to Meet Someday
Geoff Dyer, the writer

Photo Credit: Irish Repertory Theatre