Reporter Rebekah Commane met Myles Breen, a man of many talents
THE name ‘Myles Breen’ has been long established around the country for his diverse and ‘no holds barred’ approach to acting, but he chooses to work in his home town of Limerick, of which he is extremely proud.
He has now started his own theatre group, Bottomdog Theatre Company, with fellow creatives Liam O’Brien, Mike Finn and Mike Burke,
but despite the company’s title, Myles feels that theatre in Limerick is anything but at the bottom of the pile.
The new company, whose founders were involved with the now defunct Island Theatre, already has four productions under its belt, though they went into business only last year.
Having grown up on the North Circular Road, Myles credits his mother for inspiring his love of theatre.
“Mam was mad about the theatre and dragged me and my brother John to every show and play from the age of four”, he told this newspaper.
“When I went to UCC to study commerce, I spent all of my time at the dramatic society, which further fed my love of theatre. I had a ball.
“When I finished college, my parents asked me what I was going to do with my BA in commerce and I replied: ‘I’m going to stay in Cork and become an actor’! He told his mam it was her fault that he had taken to the acting scene, but both parents were very supportive.
“I was really lucky because I got involved with Graffiti Theatre Company in Cork almost right away”.
Once having decided to become a professional actor, Myles quickly landed a role in 1987 film ‘Clash of the Ash’, in which he played Willy.
“It was unbelievable, I just decided to become an actor and landed a role in this film that was quite a big deal. It was never that easy again!”
From Cork, Myles moved to Dublin for 13 years, though his presence was continually felt in Limerick.
“People don’t realise that I lived in Dublin for so long because I came home a lot to work on plays and panto. There is no audience like the Limerick audience, and I always received an excellent reception for all of my performances”.
Among Myles’ television credits is his stint on Fair City, where he played Roy Kingston. “Its funny, people always remember me for my role on Fair City, though I wasn’t on it for long. I had a great time”.
His brother, John, also decided on a creative career path and has become an established director. They have worked together in three different productions over the years.
Back in Limerick, Myles was involved with the production ‘Off The Wall’, a collection of short plays inspired by the paintings in Limerick City Gallery, which was nominated for awards.
“Everyone in the company is very passionate about Limerick and professional theatre in Limerick, and we wanted to make use of the resources available here”.
He then performed his one man show, ‘Language On Becoming A Lady’, which he described as “the hardest and scariest thing I’ve ever done”.
He premiered this at the recent Limerick Pride event in the city, and got a standing ovation.
In May, the company got the go ahead to perform their next production, ‘The Revenger’s Tragedy’, a Thomas Middleton play adapted by Mike Finn, which Myles will direct. It will be held in the Belltable in November.
“Its a Jacobean tragedy adapted to suit the streets of modern day Limerick,” he explains. “Liam O’Brien will play the lead and the story is a twisted tale involving plotting and manipulation”.
Myles will don his dancing shoes in October, when he takes part in Strictly Come Dancing in aid of breast cancer research.
“I was going to dance to a Michael Jackson song but I thought it would be ambitious to attempt to fill the shoes of the King of Pop! I’ll be dancing to Circus by Britney Spears”.
Myles feel that there is a great buzz in Limerick at the moment and that there are no better people to put the hard times aside, and “just get on with it”.
