Brian Beacom

WHATEVER happened to exiled King Maximilian Xth of Octavia?

Turns out he shares an attic flat off the Dumbarton Road with his son and heir, the Crown Prince Pauli.

Or at least King Max thinks he’s a royal ruler, and after fifty years still has dreams of going home.

Maximillian, (Jimmy Chisholm) we learn has dementia and he is looked after by his son, (Daniel Cahill.)

“My character has to go along with the fantasy,” says Daniel of Sean Hardie’s play, Small World.

“He wants to keep his dad happy, who has episodes of panic, thinking he’s in the middle of a coup, and I have to calm him down.”

Daniel says the lines between reality and fiction become blurred. Not just with the father.

“What we realise as the play develops is that Pauli feeds into this fantasy. He doesn’t take the dream as seriously as his dad, but he likes to invent his own world.

“He tells his dad he is a global banker, but in reality he is a kitchen porter.”

Does being a global banker not cut across his career as the Crown Prince, in his dad’s mind?

“Not really,” says Daniel, smiling. “My dad reckons I’m not quite ready to inherit the throne and so meantime I’m better off being a banker.”

Dementia sufferers can enter a world in which they lose their own identity entirely.

“My grandfather suffered from dementia, and lived ‘till he was 93. He once raised greyhounds in Ireland, and before he died he still thought he was back in Ireland. His life in Scotland had gone.”

The play is poignant - and funny. But with a very surprising twist.

Daniel is delighted to be appearing at Oran Mor. Indeed, he loves the world of fantasy that acting offers up.

“I always wanted to act,” he recalls.

“I’m the youngest of three boys, and we’d re-enact Play Station games out in the street. I always wanted to be the bad guy or the zombie.

“I did drama at high school,(he grew up in Airdrie) and went on to study at UK Theatre School.

“From there I went on to RSAMD and graduated last year.”

Daniel’s professional career kicked off however before he graduated.

He landed key roles in Rona Munro’s trilogy The James Plays, picking up great crit along the way.

“This was right at the end of my course, and it’s been fantastic for me. Thankfully, the college assessed me while I was in rehearsals and up there on stage.

“And the plays were a massive event. The audiences were fantastic and I got to tour with the play to the likes of Canada, Australia and New Zealand.”

He appreciates his luck; his first play was a huge international hit.

“I learned such a lot from the RSAMD. But it’s like driving. You don’t really know what you’re doing until you get out there on the road.”

Daniel’s character was seriously tested along the way.

When actor Andrew Rothney damaged his knee, Daniel, straight from drama school, had to change character and take his place as James 2.

But there was an even greater challenge. During the trilogy performance Daniel had to cope with being stabbed in the face with a sword.

“I had to take part in this battle scene and because of a mistake in choreography, Steven Miller managed to put his forged steel sword through my top lip.

“It burst open. I thought I’d lost all my front teeth. We had to find a doctor in the house. Thankfully, we did, and he said I could manage to continue for the next play if I used a cold compress.

“During the play, I was in a kist, with an ice block stuck to my face. Thankfully, I got through it, although I still have a hole in my face.”

He’s delighted to be working at Oran Mor, playing a global banker/kitchen porter with a very active love life.

“I love it,” he says of his latest challenge. “And the language in this play is colourful, and fantastic.”

Daniel adds, grinning; “Real life, as we know can be a bit boring. Sometimes it’s good to immerse yourself in another world.”

*Small World, Oran Mor, until Saturday.