Brian Conley loves the high life on stage in Barnum

BREAK a leg. We’re all familiar with the traditional theatre version of “Good luck”.

But in Brian Conley’s current role, he could end up doing just that.

That’s because he’s currently touring the UK as legendary showman PT Barnum, and the spectacular show sees our Bri risk life and limb by literally walking a tightrope.

“It took me forever to learn and even now when I look at it, I think: ‘Am I going to get across or am I not?’” admits the 53-year-old Londoner.

“I do often fall I broke a finger in rehearsal but you learn to fall and grab the wire. There’s no safety net, it’s seven foot up and it’s 10 foot across and that took me a long time to master.

“But it’s integral to the story. Barnum at that point is having an affair and the lady he’s seeing is on the other side of the bridge, so it’s a wonderful metaphor for what’s happening in that he’s walking a tight wire.”

So how often does he make it across? 50/50 say?

“Oi, I’m better than that!” he laughs. “It depends but I do have some quite funny lines if I do go, so I do cover myself and break the tension that way, but my brother’s a golfer and said: ‘Brian, you think you’ve got it, and then it bites ya.’

“The whole thing with the wire is it’s not about getting across, because if you’re too keen to get across, you’ll fail because your head will lean forward, it’s about staying on the wire.

“It’s one of the toughest things I’ve ever had to master, and it’s all very well doing it in rehearsal but when you’ve got 1,500 people looking at you as well . . .”

Barnum is a brutal role for any actor, as Brian fully admits.

“It’s a mammoth task it’s renowned for being one of the most gruelling parts in musical theatre,” nods the man who’ll be back on our screens this summer as he’s just signed a deal to do 20 episodes of a new kind of chat show for the BBC.

“It’s full on, it really is.

“Normally, you get a couple of moments to yourself but, no, from the moment the show starts, Barnum is on stage all the time.

“It is a huge production with 28 of us in the company and 11 in the orchestra, and that’s not including all the crew.

“It shouldn’t really be on tour because it’s so big, but it is and it’s doing very well.”

This show sees things come full circle for Brian as Barnum was the first show he ever saw in the West End, starring Michael Crawford in the 80s.

“I saw it at the Victoria Palace, it was originally at the Palladium.

“Of course before that Jim Dale starred in it on Broadway,” he says.

“I knew Crawford from Some Mothers Do Have ’Em but we went because everyone said you’ve got to go and see it, it was such a popular show.

“We’ve rewritten some of it, updated the comedy and told the story in a much clearer way.

“What works is that the whole company apart from me and Linzi Hateley, who plays my wife, are out in the audience working the crowd for about 10 minutes before we go, having fun, doing handstands in the aisle, and it just brings the audience in so they’re ready for when I walk on.

“People think when they come along they’re going to see a circus show but it’s not. It was much later in Barnum’s life that he got into the circus, he was 64 before he teamed up for Barnum & Bailey.

“Circus is the glue that holds the story together but really it’s the story of an entrepreneur and it’s a love story.”

For many actors, the danger when on tour is piling on the pounds as they can’t eat before a show so go out for a curry afterwards.

But Brian says: “I have to say it’s actually an issue that I have to eat more!

“Learn to walk on a tight wire because you work every single muscle in your body doing that.

“I’ve never been in this position before. I know I’ve got to eat more but it’s a wonderful luxury.”

Barnum is touring until May. For information, visit www.atgtickets.com.