IN THE 1993 film Falling Down, Michael Douglas’s character took the audience on a journey of unrelenting despair.

The storyline was gripping, leaving us wondering how much a person can accept before legs begin.

Who hasn’t had a day when it all begins to go wrong, and the world is determined to ruin your life?

This theme is explored in this week’s Oran Mor play Billy (the Days of Howling) by Fabien Cloutier.

It features Anthony Strachan, a familiar face in Scottish television comedy, having appeared in the likes of Gary: Tank Commander Bob Servant, Mountain Goats plays the Billy’ father.

Anthony plays Billy’s dad. A man so close to the edge he’s dizzy with fear.

“He’s a frustrated chap, always running around after his kid and he’s desperate for free time,” says Anthony, with some understatement.

“His only relief comes when he gets time for his coffee and doughnuts, and then it’s back into the madness.”

There are three characters in the play, all very angry people.

“They are all frustrated, all stuck in a rut,” says Kirkcaldy-born Anthony. “As a result, they take their frustrations out on easy targets, from supposed welfare scroungers to the way other people raise their kids.

“But what they don’t get is while their trashing everybody, lashing out all the time, they don’t seem to understand why they’re not getting any respect.”

However, there has to be more to a play than three people howling at the moon in a series of bleak backdrops?

“When I read the script I thought these people are horrible,” says the actor, smiling.

“But the more you read into it the more you begin to feel sorry for them. The play, I think, is a comment on modern life. It’s about lacking empathy, it’s about people coming together and making an effort.

“Everybody has their problems. It’s about realising that. You don’t really know what’s going on in other people’s lives.

“And I have to say, it’s been a great play to work on. This is a theatre piece that will really come at the audience, hit them right in the face.”

Billy doesn’t actually appear in this social satire (which is fortunate given that Play, Pie and A Pint doesn’t employ kids).

“He’s the pivot though. One of the characters becomes obsessed by him, she worries that Billy hasn’t been brought up in the right way.”

The play represents an acute challenge for the actors, which include Ros Sydney and Hilary Lyon.

Much of the play is presented in monologues, offering a heightened reality, with only occasional interaction.

“The challenge is playing this character who goes off on his rants all the time, but to make him really interesting,” says Anthony, grinning.

“But the main issue right now is getting all the words in my head. It’s really intense.”

Anthony didn’t watch video film of the play, which has been performed in Canada.

“You don’t want to see others perform a piece,” he says. “It can confuse; you don’t know what to copy, or leave it. It’s best to come up with your own way of acting it out.”

Anthony’s interest in acting began when he attended local youth theatre as a boy, and when aged 16 he to Glasgow to join Scottish Youth Theatre he found himself ‘in heaven.’

“I loved it,” he says of coming to the city. “We all stayed in halls of residence and had a fantastic time.

“I did some good stuff with them and it was then I realised there was a possibility I could do this for a living.”

The father-of-two went on to drama college and had a stint in London.

“It wasn’t for me, though. It was all a bit too hectic.”

Anthony has gone on to work in a range of TV productions, from Rab C. Nesbitt to High Times.

It suggests he has a particular bent for comedy?

“I suppose,” he says, musing over the thought. “I’ve always liked comedy, and I guess I get cast as the lighter characters, even when I’m in something serious.”

He adds, “Maybe it’s because I don’t take life too seriously and that comes across.”

The actor certainly doesn’t look like an axe murderer.

“No, I’ve got these smiley chops,” he says, touching his face, “although I did look like a bit of a radge in one gangster film I appeared in with Vinnie Jones, set in Lithuania.

“But even though I had my head shaved for the part and tried to look mean my character was still the butt of all the jokes.”

• Billy (The Days of Howling), Oran Mor, until Saturday.