Born October 14th
1948 ; died August 26th 2013
When Gerard Murphy, who
has died of cancer aged 64, returned to his beloved Citizens Theatre
in 2012 to appear in Samuel Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape, no-one had
any idea that it would be his final appearance at the theatre that
launched his career. Now, however, Beckett's solo tale of an old man
raking through his former glories contained on a series of reel to
reel tapes looks like an oddly fitting epitaph.
Murphy gave a
remarkable performance that was a mix of bravura and vulnerability,
traits which defined his work over a near forty-year career, be it
onstage at the Citz or with the Royal Shakespeare Company or in
numerous television and film roles.
Gerard Murphy was born
in Newry, County Down. As a shy child, he was set to be a musician,
but recognised that if he went down that path, he would become even
more introverted. Needing to find a voice, he approached his local
theatre, thinking that acting was a 'night time job.' They employed
him anyway. Murphy was equally naïve when someone suggested he
attend one of the Citizens Theatre's open auditions, but again, he
got the job.
Initially contracted
for three months work on a production of Shakespeare's Coriolanus in
1974, Murphy's arrival at the Citz chimed with the Gorbals-based
theatre's heyday as an international theatre unafraid to shock as it
reinvented the classics for a sexually charged age. As a
golden-haired innocent abroad, Murphy fitted in perfectly with the
theatre's flamboyant aesthetic, and over the next three years
appeared in plays by Brecht, Shakespeare, Wilde and de Sade. Murphy's
Citz swan-song was supposed to have been in a production of Woyzeck,
before a tragic accident involving a visiting company forced the
theatre management to bring forward a new play, Chinchilla, by Citz
director/writer Robert David MacDonald.
Murphy played the title
role in MacDonald's epic study of theatrical maestro, Diaghilev, and
gave a performance which impressed then Royal Shakespeare Company
artistic director Trevor Nunn enough for him to offer Murphy a job in
Sean O'Casey' Juno and the Paycock, playing opposite Judi Dench. This
began a relationship with the RSC which eventually saw Murphy
appointed an associate artist with the company. This didn't stop him
returning to the Citz to play Macbeth opposite David Hayman's Lady
Macbeth, a role Murphy repeated in 1998, the last time he performed
in the Citz for fourteen years.
In the interim, Murphy
continued a career in film and television which had begun in his
pre-Citz years with a couple of bit parts on TV cop show, Z-Cars.
Murphy was a regular in 1979 mini-series, My Son, My Son, as well as
Charters and Caldicot in 1985. Murphy appeared in 1988 Dr Who story,
Silver Nemesis, and was a regular in McCallum (1995-98) and the
Scarlet Pimpernel (1999). Murphy appeared in Waterworld and Batman
Begins, and narrated the radio version of Lord of the Rings. His most
recent onscreen appearance was in the feature film, The Comedian,
released earlier this year.
Onstage, Murphy played
Oedipus in The Theban Plays with the RSC, George in Who's Afraid of
Virginia Woolf/ at Bristol Old Vic, played the title role in Volpone
at the Royal Exchange, Manchester, and played Salieri in Amadeus at
the Sheffield Crucible. Murphy toured in Christopher Luscombe's
production of The History Boys and played in Sir Peter Hall's
production of The Rivals.
In company, Murphy was
a warm, generous and modest man with a wicked sense of fun who would
rather not talk about his assorted talents, which included
translations of French plays.
Murphy was nominated
for the Best Actor award for Krapp's Last Tape at the 2013 Critics
Awards For Theatre in Scotland. The award was won by Alan Cumming for
his solo turn as Macbeth, but, with Cumming unavailable, the National
Theatre of Scotland's Head of External Affairs, Roberta Doyle, picked
up the award on his behalf. Doyle, who had known Murphy since his
glory days at the Citz, used the occasion to pay tribute to Murphy,
who was present. Few in the audience were aware of Murphy's illness,
and that this may well be the final time he would be in a Scottish
theatre.
It was the Citizens
Murphy called home, and he spoke movingly of his prodigal's return to
the Glasgow theatre in these pages during rehearsals for Krapp's Last
Tape. In a theatre noted for the charisma of its leading actors,
Gerard Murphy stood out as a quiet but powerful presence who
epitomised the Citz's spirit in every way.
Murphy is survived by
his sister Deirdre, brother Brian and numerous nieces and nephews.
The Herald, August 28th 2013
ends
Comments