Michael Maloney: ‘A lot of actors have played Poirot – mine will be a bit more expressive’
When he takes to the stage in Salford this week to kick off the new UK tour of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, 67-year-old actor Michael Maloney will join an impressive list of performers that have played the part of detective Hercule Poirot.
“I’ve seen Kenneth Branagh play Poirot and I’ve seen David Suchet play Poirot,” Maloney says. “David was the nation’s Poirot for 20 years on television. He did a fantastic job. My childhood memory is of Albert Finney, of course, who was amazing. Peter Ustinov did it, too. A lot of actors have done it and I admire them all. It is a real challenge for me. My Poirot will be a bit more expressive, because this is on stage, after all, but I don’t think you can veer too far away from those that have gone before you.”
There are a couple of Shakespearean roles left that I’d love to do, but I won’t say what they are in case it’s bad luck
Born in 1957, Maloney grew up in Suffolk, discovered a talent for acting in a school play – “I thought it was my ticket out of there,” he laughs – and went on to train at LAMDA. He made both his television and West End debuts in 1979, in the BBC series Telford’s Change and the Brian Clark play Can You Hear Me at the Back?.
His subsequent 45-year career has seen him traverse stage and screen – and included several acclaimed stints with the Royal Shakespeare Company – but he was forced to take a long break from theatre work from the mid-2000s until 2021.
“Apart from four weeks at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2010, there was a 17-year hiatus when I could only work in television,” Maloney says. “I became a carer for my mum and dad, and I saw them out, and I looked after my daughter on my own for five years from the age of 13 to 18.
“I basically had to be at home, especially in the evenings. When I was young, I couldn’t get enough of acting. I was not living a life with other human beings if they were not on stage on a set. Over time, though, I learned that there was more to life than acting. I learned that fact was more important than fiction.”
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Related to this article
What production made you fall in love with theatre?
I remember seeing panto when I was growing up, and Alan Ayckbourn’s fantastic trilogy The Norman Conquests. The first show that completely turned my head was Trevor Griffiths’ Comedians, which I saw when I was 18 at drama school. It was the original production, but Jonathan Pryce had left and been replaced by Kenneth Cranham. I got Kenneth’s autograph after the show and showed it to him years later.
What are you finding inspiring at the moment?
My daughter, Martha Maloney, has just graduated from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. I’ve been going to see a lot of shows with her and it is all very exciting.
What do you wish you could change about the performing arts industry?
I worry about drama school graduates today. When I left drama school, there were 50 repertory theatres you could get a year’s contract as an acting assistant stage manager. Now, that has disappeared. You get a job that is three weeks of rehearsal and three weeks of performance, then you have to wait another 12 weeks before you get another one. I’d like to see more funding so that we could revive the repertory theatre system.
What is the worst thing that has happened to you on stage?
Press night of Romeo and Juliet in Stratford-upon-Avon. I had waited so long to play Romeo, but I’d lost my voice two days before. During the interval, I had a pint of beer to help. It didn’t work, so I had another, and another. My performance in the second half was a bit flamboyant, according to the critics. It was funny and hell at the same time.
What is the best thing that has happened to you on stage?
I played Hamlet twice, once under Philip Franks and once under Yukio Ninagawa, and both times it was fantastic. Doing Henry IV Parts I and II with the RSC was extraordinary, too. We had Robert Stephens as Falstaff. He had been in Laurence Olivier’s company at the Old Vic and carried with him the last vestiges of experience of that golden era.
What role do you really want to play?
I’m getting older now and there are a couple of Shakespearean roles left that I’d love to do, but I won’t say what they are in case that is bad luck.
What projects are you involved in at the moment?
I am playing Hercule Poirot in the UK tour of Lucy Bailey’s production of Murder on the Orient Express. When this adaptation by Ken Ludwig was staged in Chichester two years ago, it was the first time Agatha Christie’s story had been seen on stage in Britain. It is such a rock-solid plot. Even if you know the twist, there will be parts that surprise you. We are starting the first, 12-week leg in Salford, then we’ve got six weeks off while people do panto, then we are doing another 14-week leg next year until May. I am looking forward to getting out and about, as I haven’t been able to do that for years.
Murder on the Orient Express is at the Lowry, Salford, from September 6 to 14, then touring. For full touring information click here
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