Everything’s coming up roses for Tralee actor Tim as he enjoys most prolific period of his career

At 58 years old and now a grizzled veteran of the stage and screen, there’s not many firsts that Tralee actor Tim Landers has yet to experience in a career that has seen him enjoy small roles in shows such as ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Fair City’ while in films, he has most recently enjoyed appearing in both the new Liam Neeson film ('In the Land of Saints and Sinners') on Netflix as well as Lindsay Lohan’s ‘Irish Wish’.

Yet, while Tim has pretty much been there and done it all on so many levels as an actor, he has recently shown that even as he nears 60, there’s still room to teach an old dog a few new tricks, as evidenced in Tim’s most recent purple patch in his career where he got to make not one, but two huge life long dreams come true.

Tim spoke to The Kerryman this week and while he admitted that he was more than a little tired, an understandable complaint when you’ve just finished a marathon 98 shows of touring around Ireland, the UK and Europe with the ‘Seven Drunken Nights’ show, he says he now has more confidence than ever after moving out of his comfort zone.

Tim’s role in the show was that of narrator/singer in a production which tells the story of ‘The Dubliners’ and which spans the 50 years of one of Ireland’s most famous groups.

Since securing the role in May of last year and save for a few weeks break in between tours earlier this year, Tim has been on the go non-stop right until this past week when the tour came to an end in Waterford.

Over the course of the tour, which spanned almost 10 countries in Europe, Tim has not only endured tour bus life – he wasn’t a fan of the bunk beds – and gotten to visit some of the Europe’s biggest cities – “Berlin was amazing” he said – but he also made his West End debut in London as well as his Olympia debut in Dublin.

Both of these, he said this week, are things he has dreamed of achieving his entire career.

"I have been in professional pantos and shows before but this was by far the biggest and the longest tour that I've ever done. When I was on stage, it was honestly one of the best experiences of my life,” he said.

“We did three dates in the UK and then we went to Belgium for and Holland for three or four days each and then after this we did eight-and-a-half weeks across Germany...all in a tour bus! I mean, we had our own chef so it was a bit rock star in that sense. He'd set up a mobile kitchen wherever we went so we ate very well. Then, we had a big articulated lorry that would travel with us and that had our set in it as well as our lights and our sound stuff. It was all so new to me!” he laughed.

The set for the show, Tim explained, consisted of a reconstruction of the famous O'Donoghue's Bar on Baggot St in Dublin and then a recording studio that was on the other side of the stage, all of which paled in comparison to the wonderful venues Tim found himself playing night after night.

"Some of the theatres in Germany that we played at, they were just unbelievable. The one in Bremen sticks out in my memory. We're talking three tiers of seats, a real professional stage that could hold a West End show if it wanted,” he said.

"When I was younger and a soccer player, I loved travelling to all the different pitches and stadiums and getting my photo taken there. Now, as an adult, I've swapped the pitched for theatres and so I made a point of getting a photo of myself on stage at every theatre that we played in. It was such a thrill,” he continued.

While travelling Europe was undoubtedly special, it was closer to home in both Ireland and that UK that would prove to be the enduring highlights for Tim.

"I first went to the West End 25 years ago to try and make it as an actor but for one reason or another, it just didn't work out at the time but I always dreamed of it,” he said.

Fittingly, it was on St Patrick’s Day night in March of this year that, at 57 years old, it finally happened for Tim...he walked on stage on the West End.

“I've a great picture from that night of me walking out onto the stage and everyone has their camera lights on and honestly, that was a night I felt like I was a rock star. Being on stage, that was just a dream come true. 25 years ago, I had gone to England to try and make it and I wasn't good enough but then to come back and for me to have that moment on stage, it felt like a full circle moment."

"I had a friend from Tralee in the stage that night in London and he said that he was blown away by my performance which was just lovely to hear. The crowd were up dancing and cheering. It was amazing.”

Back home in Ireland then and making his Olympia debut, also proved to be very much a ‘pinch me’ moment for Tim.

"I had gone to see so many shows there [in the Olympia] over the years and so for me to actually find myself performing on that stage, that was something else. To have the Dublin audience singing every lyric of Dubliners songs back to us on stage, my god, it was special. There was two of us on the stage where we're sitting in the pub setting and I sang two verses of the 'Rare Auld Times' and the other person sang two more verses, that was a religious experience,” he said.

As he settles back into life in Tralee and he has had time to let the dust settle on a whirlwind few months, Tim said that he is looking to the future with a renewed sense of confidence and ambition.

"I've done a lot of stage stuff and I know my way around a stage but this tour and this show, this is after giving me so much more confidence. I had two big monologues in the show where I have to narrate what happened to The Dubliners at that particular point in time and I had to engage the audience so that pushed me.”

“Cillian Murphy recently said after his Oscar win that if you don't try for things that you're afraid of then you'll never learn. I want to push myself as a performer and I pushed myself to the limit with this tour but I want to push on ever further to a new chapter again. This is easily the busiest and best period of my career,” he said.

Long may it continue Tim.

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