Whether exploring the mysteries of the cosmos or breathing new life into Shakespeare, actor and physics graduate Danny Kirrane says his diverse passions both draw on the power of imagination.
"People sometimes recognise me but can’t work out where they know me from." Huddersfield-born actor Danny Kirrane (Physics and Astronomy 2006) has worked with some of the biggest names around, yet enjoys the relative anonymity afforded by not being the big star.
We’re talking in the Parkinson Building a few hours before Danny steps on the Leeds Playhouse stage as Nick Bottom in a radical touring production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It’s a performance for which he has won rave reviews - and his first return to a stage he last trod while studying at Leeds. "When I was a student, I went for National Youth Theatre auditions in the Quarry Theatre at the Playhouse - exactly where I’m performing now. From then on, I was in the National Youth Theatre productions in London every summer. I’d always loved acting and this allowed me to scratch that itch."
After diverse roles in The Inbetweeners, Pirates of the Caribbean and the hit Netflix comedy Baby Reindeer, Danny has turned that itch into a successful career in which he has worked alongside stars such as Sean Bean in Game of Thrones and Mark Rylance in Jerusalem on Broadway.
In the costume drama The Serpent Queen, he took the role of 16th century French courtier Louis de Bourbon: "I love the challenge of doing an accent," he says. "I was speaking French, but think I still sounded a bit Yorkshire."
In Peterloo, directed by the legendary Mike Leigh, he drew on those northern roots for the part of the firebrand orator Samuel Drummond. "Working with Mike Leigh was big. He’s so detailed but also so idiosyncratic about the way he works, and you feel like you learn something in the process. I went to the British Library to research Drummond’s life. You have to be a bit of a detective building a character from the ground up."
I came up the other day and walked through campus and saw the EC Stoner Building, the Edward Boyle Library and the Roger Stevens lecture theatres. It took me back to the first day when I enrolled."
This summer, the new film Digger sees Danny acting alongside Tom Cruise in a movie directed by multi Oscar-winner Alejandro González Ińárritu, best known for acclaimed movies such as The Revenant and Birdman. "It’s shot entirely on film, which seems to make it feel more real, more physical, than digital video."
Danny draws a clear connection between his career and his studies: "Sometimes on stage you feel like you are in a flow state, that it’s bigger than you. You’re touched by it, because you let it flow through you, almost like a dream - and it feels to me as though that relates to quantum mechanics.
"And there’s an aspect of physics, and particularly astrophysics, where you have to imagine quite abstract things, like the size of the cosmos, the distance between galaxies and the concepts of space and time. Right now, I’m in central Leeds, but I have to imagine I’m in a wood just outside Athens with fairies and magic potions. There’s definitely a crossover."
The production began at the Globe Theatre’s Wanamaker Playhouse, which is modelled on the candlelit theatres of Shakespeare’s London. After Leeds, the production was heading to Bristol and Oxford. "We’re pushing the story in different ways, making Bottom into more of a three-dimensional character. Our job as artists is to dust these plays off and bring them into the now. And that is how we push the art form forward. We want to keep the humour but make it more relevant to what is going on in the world. Doing it at the Globe and making Bottom different to how anyone else has played him has been a joy."
The three-week Leeds run gave Danny the chance to re-visit his student days: "I came up the other day and walked through campus and saw the EC Stoner Building, the Edward Boyle Library and the Roger Stevens lecture theatres. It took me back to the first day when I enrolled."
He says studying at Leeds was an easy choice. "I went to look at quite a few universities when I was coming up to my A-levels. I visited the physics department here and it seemed to have a good balance of students - down to earth, normal people - and it felt like a good fit. It was an amazing physics department and it was a good time to be at University. Leeds is such a brilliant city with a great nightlife."
"I spent my first year in Bodington Hall, then moved into a student house in Manor Terrace, Headingley. The course was full-on, with 40 hours a week in the Uni, and I had a part-time job too. So it was about maintaining that balance of working hard on my degree and enjoying the social life."
As we chat, a couple of students look in our direction as though they know the face, but can’t quite place the name: "In celebrity culture, it’s quite nice to be anonymous. People think ’I know him from somewhere’ but can’t work out where. And being a character actor, rather than the big star, you play characters who are interesting and diverse. If everyone knew me for a big role, that might limit who I could play in future.
"So far, I have been very lucky to have a diverse and interesting career, with such different roles and genres. Being alongside the people I’ve worked with, you can’t help but learn."
