ORAN Mor producers have once again raided the talent box and come up with a play from its Classic Cuts season and Game of Thrones actor Daniel Portman.

 

With a famous acting dad (Ron Donachie) and uncle (much lauded actor Stewart Porter), Daniel Portman was never not going to be an actor, was he?

"Well, I hadn't done much drama, apart from school, it just didn't occur to me," says the actor who plays Podrick Payne in hit TV show.

"I thought it was fun but then I did a show, Anything Goes, with Glasgow School's Youth Theatre, and I got a great part and I loved it.

"It felt so natural to be up there on stage, it felt right.

"From there, I started working professionally.

"About a month after that I landed a film, in which the director was casting in schools.

"Apparently, they were looking for a couple of scumbags and they came to my school.

"The producers had no idea my dad was an actor, and my best friend Josh Laidlaw and I both landed parts.

"You couldn't make it up. I was 17 at the time and it was the best possible start to a career, to have your best pal by your side."

Daniel's original dream had been to become a rugby player.

But the dream died the day he received an horrific injury to his knee and groin.

It was so traumatic he won't talk about it today.

"But it's all worked out for me," he says.

"In the face of adversity you can complain or rise against it. I wasn't going to complain."

He admits he'd never been brought up on stage, but he had learned from his dad, and his uncle, by osmosis.

"When you're around craftsmen you do absorb things," he says.

"You get to see someone always do the best they can. That rubs off."

Daniel, went on to appear in River City, and reckons an acting performance is all to do with confidence and belief.

"If you believe you're on a Greek island rather than the Oran Mor stage the audience will believe it too," he says, smiling.

There's every chance the west end audience will be transported to ancient Greece this week when Daniel appears in Philoctetes which was adapted by Benny Young who plays the eponymous role.

A deadly archer, he's inherited his friend Heracles' bow, which never misses.

But while on his way to Troy, he becomes injured and Odysseus, of the Odyssey fame, decides he should be dumped on an island.

"My character Neotolomus is the son of Achilles, and it's been prophecied I'll be instrumental in the fall of Troy," he says.

"So when I come to Troy to collect my dead dad's army, Odysseus is wearing the bow, and the prophecy looks to be doomed.

"I'm then taken off to this desert island and left to wonder.

And that's where the play begins, with us going to the island.

"A second prophecy has been decreed that Troy will only fall if he fires his arrows over the wall.

"And in order for my prophecy to be fullfilled, so too does his.

"It's a fantastic cast.

"I've not been on stage since I did Black Watch a couple of years ago.

"And to be honest, it's been nerve-wracking for me to work with talent such as this.

"Even in rehearsals I've learned so much."

The essence of the play is what it is to be Greek, and what it is to be a hero?

Is killing a man every honourable? Is it about getting the job done?

"That's the big questions being asked," he says.

"Odyseus is a hero, but he's underhand and manipulative. But am I a hero? Do I want to be a hero."

It's a timeless tale. It's played out in modern-day gangland culture.

"Absolutely," Daniel agrees. "I'm not saying that's the way I was brought up but it certainly is part of our macho culture."

Daniel reckons this adaptation is 'superb.'

"In the west of Scotland, young men aren't allowed to feel things," he says.

"All you're supposed to feel is your fist on someone's face."

Was he a lover rather than a fighter at school? After all, he was a rugby player.

"If I told you I didn't know how to look after myself that would be a lie," he says.

"Yes, I got into plenty of scraps as a kid. But I think it all comes from fear. And I don't think anger and violence every makes you happy.

"And I haven't felt this way for a long time."

Why shouldn't he be happy. As well as working in a play with a great cast he's also appearing in one of the biggest TV dramas in the world.

How did he come to be in Game of Thrones?

"I just went along to audition in the second season, just out of college, and finally got the role of Podrick Payne.

"I had been playing lots of angry young men until that point and never thought I'd get the part.

"But perhaps because I was relaxed, it helped.

"I was hugely excited to work on an HBO show. The quality is always there. But I had no idea it would become the phenomenon it had.

"Four season later, Daniel loves the role.

"He's the comic relief but he's the only selfless character in the show."

He gets to attend Game of Thrones conventions around the world, to the States, India, Australia.

"What a perk," he says, shaking his head, almost in disbelief.

"It's incredibly humbling. I feel so grateful."

And he gets to star in a show alongside his dad.

"He's a remarkable man. He's been an incredible role model for me and he's my best pal.

"But you know my great ambition? I'd love to work on stage with me. That would be the dream.

"Perhaps some producer will read this and cast us in a Death of A Salesman. That would be the dream."

€¢ Philoctetes, part of the Sol Classic Cuts Season, Oran Mor until Saturday.