Brian Beacom

AS actors of some experience, Martin McCormick and Michael Dylan are used to audience surprises.

But the pair could never have anticipated what was to greet them when they turned up to perform a stage play in a Russian town.

The inhabitants of Perm near the Ural Mountains, were such big fans of Irish writer Martin McDonagh they dressed as leprechauns.

It all looked like a scene from Darby O’Gill and the Little People.

“The play we were appearing in was The Lonesome West,” Martin recalls, grinning, relaxing over lunch in the Tron Theatre café.

“It turns out there is a Martin McDonagh Festival every year in Perm and the plays of the Irishman are performed.

“We couldn’t believe how he was celebrated.

“There is even a McDonagh bridge in the town and a statue of the man.”

Cork-born Michael Dylan admits he too was stunned by what he encountered.

“The Russians turned up dressed in green outfits, with hair dyed red,” he recalls, grinning.

“It’s how Russians perceive Irish culture to be. And it was so weird. It was cultish.

“The ensemble even built the set and made it look like an exact replica of the set we’d had in Glasgow.”

Martin adds, smiling; “The theatre people even got Guinness in.

“Then after the show, all the critics who had descended from Russia went into a room with director Andy Arnold and talked in depth about the play for the longest time.

“It’s not what you’re used to in Glasgow.”

Michael was voted Best Actor.

“I don’t know why I came back here,” he says, grinning.

“I could have lived there forever and been a king.”

One minute Russia, surrounded by leprechauns, the next the acting pals are back at the Tron, starring in The Lying Kind.

Anthony Neilsen’s farce tells of two policemen who turn up at a house on Christmas Eve to inform there has been a death in the family.

But they are unable to reveal their knowing.

“I play Constable Gobbel and I’m not the sharpest tool in the box but I’m lovable,” says Michael, smiling.

“I’m really just playing myself.”

Martin plays the straight man in the relationship.

“I’m Blunt, the jobsworth, an inept policeman. I think of the pair as being like Father Ted and Dougall, two people who have slipped through the net and are utterly hopeless.”

The pair are either too passionate or too cowardly.

“They have to remind themselves how they should address people when there’s been a death.”

As is the case in farce, chaos ensues. The dopey constables get themselves caught up in a lynching.

Local self-appointed vigilante Gronya (River City’s Gayle Telfer Stevens) has formed PAPS (Parents’ Against Paedophiles) and is determined to have justice.

Meanwhile we discover the Reverend Shandy (Gavin Jon Wright) to be a transvestite.

Peter Kelly and Anne Lacey play the older couple, Balthasar and Garson.

Just to add to the mix, there are multiple misunderstandings along the way.

And the pair have to contend with a stray Chihuahua.

Martin is excited at the idea of playing the hapless policeman.

“I read the play a while back and loved it. I’m a massive fan of farce and this one is excellent.”

But Scots, traditionally don’t like farce and all that silly ‘saddle the nags’ Englishness, unless it comes with an Orton-esque darkness?

“Oh, this is pretty dark,” says Martin, grinning in understatement.

“There is a real brutality to it, and some great realism.”

Michael adds; “All the characters are tragic. It’s wonderful. And it’s also really funny. The writer has the balance between comedy and silliness.”

The pair bring a great deal of experience and comedy talent to the roles.

Michael is an accomplished award-winning stage actor.

But in 2013 he the chance to reveal his skills on television with Big Brother, in which he posed as a postman during his time in the house.

His mission was to secretly stir up trouble. And it worked.

Martin meantime is also a writer. “I’ve got four different projects on the go,” he says with a pleased smile.

“I’m writing a show for Livingstone, I have a commission with the NTS, a play with Grid Iron for the Edinburgh Festival and I’m hoping to write an Oran Mor play.”

Martin is also involved with the writing team at River City.

“Someone said to me recently ‘It’s a shame you’re not acting anymore.’ But it’s a question of keeping busy.”

Martin will be acting again later in the year when he appears as Begbie in the return of Trainspotting at the Citz.

Michael meantime is currently auditioning for the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh.

“I’m hoping someone will write me into River City,” he says, looking to his friend and grinning.

Meantime, the pair are wallowing in the chance to play the deeply stupid policeman.

“We work well together,” says Martin. “And it’s great to have a job like this when you can have so much fun.”

Michael agrees; “Yes, but I could be back in Perm where they see me as a legend.”

*The Lying Kind, the Tron Theatre, until July 22.