Paul McGann returns to the Stage

Given his three-decade and counting career as an actor, you'd think there was little left for Paul McGann to encounter for the first time. So it's a surprise to learn that the second eldest of the quartet of Liverpool acting brothers has never done a UK theatre tour - until now.

It appears the 57-year-old has been drawn back to the stage by Moira Buffini's Gabriel, a story set in Nazi-occupied Guernsey in 1943. McGann, back in uniform 30 years after his star-making turn as Percy Toplis, plays the terrifying Commander Von Pfunf, who makes romantic advances to widowed mother Jeanne.

photo (c) Nicholas Dawkes

The titular Gabriel, a mysterious young man who washes ashore with no memory of who he is, is played by another native Scouser, Robin Morrissey, who Everyman and Playhouse audiences are familiar with through his roles in productions like Sex and the Three Day Week, Juno and the Paycock and Twelfth Night.

Cheshire-born Buffini penned Gabriel two decades ago, with the play going on to win both the £10,000 Meyer-Whitworth Award for new British playwrights, and a LWT 'plays on stage' accolade.

The 51-year-old's other work includes Simence, Dinner and and wonder.land. And she also writes for the screen, including Tamara Drewe, Handbagged and, most recently, the script for new British film Viceroy's House.

Gabriel is at the Liverpool Playhouse from April 4-8.