Titanic musical comes to Scotland with Larbert's Kieran Brown

The former Larbert High pupil plays one of the lead characters, William McMaster Murdoch, who was the First Officer on the Titanic.

The musical is touring 15 locations across the UK from April until August this year, visiting the cities and communities whose forebears built, manned and sailed on the famous ship.

Kieran has featured in musicals such as Wicked, and he performed in the West End production of The Phantom of the Opera, which he was an understudy in. He has also performed as part of the Barricade Boys, and was even murdered on Taggart many years ago.

Titanic is his third national tour, but Kieran said that this production is the most poignant show he has been a part of.

He said: “It’s a really beautiful, classy show. You see the titles and you think it might be a bit gaudy, but the production is not like that at all.

“In my favourite scene of the production, a list of people who died is brought on stage on a memorial board, a long list of 1517 names, and the actors on stage read direct quotes from survivors, it’s really touching, poignant and haunting.

“I’ve been listening to the songs from the musical since 1997, and to be part of the first major production in the UK is great, especially since we are able to bring it to Scotland.”

Kieran said that director Thom Southerland, whose previous Titanic The Musical production won WhatsOnStage and Off West End Awards for Best Production, did a fantastic job of putting together a respectful account of the disaster.

Kieran said on First Officer William Murdoch, the character he is portraying in the production: “I think he was unfairly portrayed in the film of Titanic, something the film’s director James Cameron recognised and apologised for, and he made reparations to the Murdoch family.

“Playing a real-life character is not something I took lightly, and I think the production we’re doing handles it with respect to that character and the story.

“Murdoch was Scottish himself, so bringing the production home to Scotland is great.”

The opportunity to return home has excited Kieran, who intends to show his fellow cast members everything Scotland has to offer, including the great scenery, and added that he is particularly looking forward to playing the Edinburgh Playhouse: “It’s one of my favourite venues. The Playhouse is almost like royalty for performers, and being Scottish I’m really excited to play there.”

Now halfway through the Titanic The Musical tour, Kieran is looking forward to performing more shows with the Barricade Boys later in the year, and will return home on December 16 to perform a West End Christmas show at the Dobbie Hall in Larbert, which will be adding a matinee show due to selling out the last time round.