RON Donachie is dead.

Not literally of course, or he wouldn't be sitting across the table right now enjoying a coffee.

But in his latest theatre play Broth, running this week at Oran Mor, audiences will get the chance to see the Game of Thrones star play a ghost.

Ron plays Grampa Jimmy, a 'violent, dangerous, nasty piece of a work,' whom we learn has been beating up the wife and granddaughter for years.

"He's a low-grade local criminal who'd like to think he's Arthur Thompson," says Ron, "but he's a million miles away from that. He's a scary guy though.

"At the beginning of the play he's just arrived back from the pub, bringing with him a terrible temper. But his wife, who has had enough, just stove's his head in.

"The daughter and the granddaughter are shocked; 'What have you done?' But the mother can't see the problem. It's entirely deserved."

But although Grampa Jimmy is now in the afterlife, the play ("It's very black, dramatic, and it's very funny") he speaks as though he were still in this world.

And off we go on a journey with the psychopathic Jimmy and his family to examine the notion of lives , consequences and regrets.

"It's about how people cope with such a person in their life," says Ron.

Towards the end of the play, the central character reviews his life. And he looks back with regret. But it's too little too late.

Ron Donachie doesn't have much time however for those, like his theatre character, who commit serious misdeeds and reckon a late apology wipes the slate clean.

"No, I don't," he says, with a wry grin. "It's like all of that Jimmy Boyle p***. His argument was he had a really hard time growing up so he became violent.

"But every other person in the same street had the same hard times to cope with. Yet, not everyone goes around nailing people to floorboards.

"When I read Sense of Freedom (Boyle's autobiography) I never read a single word of regret or apology for what he'd done. It's suffused with self-righteousness from start to finish."

Ron Donachie is a man with clear opinions and strength of character and that conviction emerges continually in his acting performances.

He brings an honest, intensity and absolute credibility to roles, from . Downton to Dr Who, from Death of A Salesman on stage to A Streetcar Names Desire.

Growing up in Dundee however, he never planned to become an actor. "My brother and I (actor Stewart Porter) had no background in acting. And I don't honestly know how I got into it.

"At university I wanted to become a journalist. But when I got into doing some acting I knew I didn't want to do anything else at the time."

But such is his natural talent, he's rarely been out of work. "I've played a load of coppers," he says, modestly. "And I've been lucky.

"When I started there were rep theatres in every big town. And I was prepared to travel around. And I learned all the time."

He loved working on Game of Thrones. "The writer managed to write about politics in such a subtle, sophisticated way. And HBO did a fantastic job."

There are few internationally successful actors however who will turn up at a small theatre in the west end of Glasgow and offer their all.

"Some young American actors I've worked with have never actually appeared on a theatre stage," he offers.

"But it's sad. They don't know what they're missing because going out before an audience is fantastic.

"And for me, the size of the audience doesn't matter. Good work is good work."

Ron adds; "The best thing about acting is the first day of rehearsals in a room full of strangers, and we all get to see what we can do. It's a great feeling."

€¢ Broth, Oran Mor until Saturday, also stars Kay Gallie, Molly Innes, Kirsty McKay and Vincent Friell.