Musical about friendship and grief kicks off new season of Glasgow's A Play, A Pie and A Pint

This will be the Glasgow actor, singer and composer’s tenth appearance at the west end venue - but it is the first time he has written both the book and music for a play, and acted in it.

“I said I’d do it, and then thought – okay, what am I going to do?” he says, with a laugh. “I had the idea of putting a grand piano on the stage, and having two performers who could both play the piano and sing, so that’s where it began.”

Oscar is the story of a composer who ships a grand piano to a remote Scottish island to write a piece of music for his brother’s memorial service. He has never had a problem composing music before, but after the death of his brother – who was also his writing partner – Oscar is lost and creatively blocked.

His plan to find time and space to breathe and grieve, and crucially to finish writing his suite of music, are thrown into chaos when he meets Miriam (Kirsty Findlay), who is also dealing with grief following the death of her father.

“An unlikely friendship develops between two people who are emotionally stuck,” explains Brian. “It’s about friendship and music, and grief. During lockdown we all got a bit stuck and people couldn’t grieve those they had lost in the same way – we couldn’t go to funerals, and that was in my mind when I started writing this. We lost a great director in Scottish theatre during lockdown, Marilyn Imrie, and I wrote a piece of music for her memorial, so that was probably in there too.”

Brian admits it is “great to be back” at Oran Mor.

“It’s like putting on an old pair of slippers,” he grins. “Oran Mor audiences are loyal, and willing to suspend disbelief like no other audience I’ve known. They’re in a 19th century melodrama one week, transported into space the next, and they are totally up for it.

“Whenever I go to see a production I’m not in, and hear people chatting in the bar, there are always people saying, oh, I’ve never been to a PPP before. So it is always bringing in new audiences, which is great.

“PPP recently held open auditions to see a load of actors who had never done it before, which is great. It’s why David MacLennan set it up in the first place, as a showcase, to give people a chance.

“Theatre has a strong union, working hard to make it safe and diverse and open, which is great, but I hope we never lose that ramshackle, all-hands-on-deck spirit of theatre that PPP has – it manages to straddle both of those worlds.”

Brian’s first taste of the world of showbiz was a dramatic one – at the age of nine, he landed the part of Oliver in Cameron Mackintosh’s west end musical at the London Palladium.

“I remember queueing up with hundreds of other wee boys, in Glasgow, to audition,” he recalls. “And I got the part. At the time I don’t think I really understood just how big a deal it was. I thought all theatres looked like the London Palladium.”

Brian travelled up and down to London, and it was not always easy.

“I’d do one week in the show, then come home for a week – I got a bit of a hard time at school, for being the ‘wee theatre boy’, but I loved doing it,” he explains.

“I still live in the west end of Glasgow, which is where I grew up. It has crossed my mind, moving to London, and I have moved away but I always come back.

“I love this city and the Scottish arts scene is a really close community.”

Brian adds: “It’s like we are a big team. If you find yourself in a waiting room at an audition, with one other person up for the same role, you will always wish each other luck and mean it.”

Life is busy for Brian at the moment as he is about to head off to Ireland for another ‘sideline’ - he plays accordion and piano accompaniment at Irish dancing competitions.

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“My dad taught me - he has done it for years and I love it,” smiles Brian. “I am busy, but I just balance it all. I like doing what I fancy - if it needs done, I’ll find a way of doing it.”

In addition to his Irish music skills, Brian owes his love of theatre and performance to his parents too.

“Amateur dramatics has always been a family hobby for us – my mum and dad did it, and I used to write shows and music and act them out in the attic of our house,” he says, adding with a laugh: “My parents would have to come up and down to watch them all.”

He adds: “And now, here I am, really doing the same thing, writing music, putting on a show.... except this time it’s in a basement, not an attic.

“And you get a pie and a pint thrown in…”

Oscar runs from today until Saturday (February 14 to 19) at Oran Mor. Tickets cost from £15. playpiepint.com