Manchester born Matthew Ganley will spend Christmas at home in Salford after spending the year touring the UK in the stage adaption of Around The World in 80 Days. The New Vic Theatre’s celebrated production of Jules Verne’s famous novel, that follows the adventures of Phileas Fogg as he travels the world in a race against the clock, plays at The Lowry for a 6 week run over the festive season.

Opening Night caught up with Matthew to get the lowdown on the high spirted escapade before it opens in Salford on 5^th December.

ON: What can we expect from Around the World in 80 Days?

MG: It’s a fast paced epic journey with a lot of action, fight sequences-there’s a circus, an elephant, lots of twists and turns and plenty of audience involvement. It’s quite an unforgettable experience!

ON: There’s only 8 of you in the cast playing 125 different roles-what’s the challenge of doing something like that every night?

MG: It’s keeping your stamina up as there’s never a dull moment. You run on stage as one person, you run off, do a quick costume change and you are back on doing something completely different. I go from an English aristocrat to a Bombay street seller in one of the changes between scenes!  

ON: It sounds like quite a spectacle we are in for…

MG: There’s obviously lots of different countries that Phileas Fogg travels to and in a short space of time we portray each of those environments with different sounds, feelings and accents. It’s a real visual treat for the audience.

ON: Now you are a local actor, from Salford and this show sees you play your home ground for Christmas at The Lowry, how does that feel?

MG: I’m really chuffed to be at home for Christmas and it’s so nice to have friends and family that I can spend time with and share this great show with as they come to see me in it.

 ON: This isn’t the first time you have been on stage at The Lowry is it?

MG: Yes, over the years I’ve been in a number of different shows and I always love going back to The Lowry, it’s such a great theatre.

ON: Do you find things have changed now for northern actors such as yourself now we have these amazing theatres in the North West bringing some big productions to our stages?

 MG: Absolutely, particularly the Manchester Fringe scene. It is so vibrant now and there’s so much great work which gets produced.  That all feeds into the arts scene as a whole and it makes Manchester and Salford a very exciting place for outside companies to come and visit.

Listings:

Around the World in 80 Days

The Lowry, Salford

5 Dec- 7 Jan 2018

https://www.thelowry.com/events/around-the-world-in-80-days