Brian Beacom

DARREN Brownlie brings so much to a performance it’s surprising he has anything left to take home.

This week, the uncontainable, Darren, fast becoming a Tron panto legend, features in the latest Oran Mor musical.

Spuds, by Andy McGregor, could be described as Breaking Bad with chip fat.

It tells the tale of David MacGonigle, who, when his wife dies, sees his perfect middle-class life collapse around him.

But after a night in Tennents Bar in Byres Road, a freak accident occurs. He spills his very special type of Iron Brew onto his chips and the result is Spuds, a new designer drug.

Soon, David has built the ultimate criminal empire, but at what cost?

“It’s a great story, and there are some really interesting things going on,” says Darren, who plays the chip shop owner, a journalist and the narrator.

“It’s all very heightened,” he says, grinning.

“But that’s what I love to do.”

Darren and his his identical twin brother David attended Pace Theatre School in Paisley.

“Me and David were appearing on television from the age of ten,” he recalls.

The Brownlie brothers appeared on a range of TV shows, such as The James Gang and in short films such as Love Me Tender and Double Nugget.

David decided acting wasn’t for him but Darren, who now lives in Glasgow’s south side, was determined to tread the showbiz route.

As a teenager he attended Dance School of Scotland.

“I felt I was good at it,” he says of dancing. “I loved ballet, although I have a traditionally Scottish body, with my torso longer than my legs.

“And I loved the musical theatre course. I was quite competitive.”

From there he moved to London and joined Arts Ed college and learned the full performance skills. Darren worked in the West End in the likes if Sondheim musicals and with talents such as Su Pollard and Ruth Madoc.

“But I didn’t realise I was such a home bird,” he reveals.

The homesickness was compounded by the realisation London was full of very talented dancers.

But undaunted, Darren returned to Scotland and set about rebuilding a career.

“I was primarily and dancer but was invited to join the Masters Course at the Conservatoire. This was great and lead to all sort of opportunities, from TV ads to choreography work and panto performance.”

He adds, laughing in grand voice;’ “I want to do all. And why not?”

Darren will be back at the Tron at Christmas time in Alice in Weegieland, playing the Queen of Hearts, and on his own will be worth the admission money.

“I love comedy,” he says. “And it’s great working with writer Johnny McKnight. He writes so brilliantly for me.

“But so many people don’t realise panto performance is a skill set in itself.”

Darren, who appeared in the Still Game stage show, will also feature in Oran Mor’s summer panto.

Does he love the big camp roles? “I seem to get cast in them,” he says, laughing.

“But yes, I love the roles which aren’t taken too seriously, and really focus on the audience having fun.”

He adds, grinning; “At the end of the day we’re just weans playing shops.”

Darren’s name is fast-growing in theatre and TV lands.

But it transpires he may not be Darren Brownlie after all.

He grins; “When I was 21 I remember asking my mother how she could tell me and David apart when we were babies.

“It turns out she couldn’t. But she became a bit exasperated by the question, looked at my dad and confessed; ‘I was exhausted!’

“Turns out she had got so tired looking after us and at one point got totally mixed up.

“She didn’t know who was who.

“From that point on she put a red marker pen mark on my ear. and I was definitely Darren.”

• Spuds, Oran Mor, until Saturday also stars Richard Conlin as David and Joanne McGuiness as Daisy, his daughter.