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Ciaran Nolan
The toast of the Big Apple is under the mistletoe in Belfast.
Actor Ciaran Nolan is celebrating a year to remember when he conquered New York and came home with three award nominations.
His one man show Man in the Moon by Belfast’s Pearse Elliott won over critics and the public.
And he’s hoping the success of the show will bring its rewards in the New Year.
But first he’s got four roles to do in Marie Jones’ Christmas caper Mistletoe and Crime, with Dan Gordon in the director’s chair.
He plays a solicitor, a cop, a homeless man and a charity volunteer in the story of two policewomen – Tara Lynne O’Neill and Katie Tumelty – on an eventful night on the beat.
“It’s only four parts in this one. In Man in the Moon I did 31, so this is like a holiday,” laughs Ciaran.
“The story is about one policewoman on her last night and the other on her first night as they meet different characters, from the lesbian couple having a domestic dispute to the woman suffering from Alzheimer’s and the guy on the SOS bus.
“Their lives change while everyone else stays the same.”
After the festive show he’ll be returning to the one man role which had him feted in New York.
As Sean Doran, a man who’s lost his job, his house and his family he debates why so many of his friends have taken their own lives.
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The actor knew before he left Belfast that his home town loved the highs and lows of the drama but he didn’t know how it would go down in a different country.
“The first night was a bit daunting. I knew it worked here but I didn’t know if it would work over there.
“We had done it in Belfast and in Jersey and we knew we had something.
“But the reviewers loved it. And we had New York people staying behind after the show saying they had been blown away. I told them it’s just a day’s work,” laughs Ciaran.
The dad of one also made the most of his time in the city that never sleeps with director Tony Devlin from Brassneck Theatre Company.
“It was the first time I’d ever been in New York so it was a great way to start.
“We were staying near Central Park so we did all the tourist spots and all the sight-seeing stuff and then we did nearly every Irish bar in the city.
“Pearse Elliott came out for a couple of weeks as well and he had a great time because he was the only one who wasn’t working.”
Next year Ciaran will be rifling through his CD collection for Crazy, a Martin Lynch comedy about a woman obsessed with Patsy Kline.
And he’ll be back in Man in the Moon, which will be going on tour to Edinburgh and Newcastle and possibly a venue in London.
“I still think this year should be a bigger year for it. We know now what we have got on our hands,” says Ciaran.
Mistletoe and Crime runs at the Lyric Theatre until January 11.
roisin.gorman@sundayworld.com