By Brian Beacom

SPANKY Farrell sums up life in 1957 - and John Byrne’s classic carpet factory play Cuttin’ A Rug - with one line.

“I’m nineteen with a wardrobe full of clothes. I’ve got everything to live for.”

Former River City star Ryan Fletcher plays 19 year-old Phil McCann in this Slab Boys follow-up to the, being staged at the Citizens’ Theatre.

Phil, despite losing his job at the carpet factory and being rejected by art school, still goes along to the work’s dance.

That’s because 1957 represented a time of optimism, and excitement. Elvis was at No 1 with All Shook Up. STV arrived. And now anything was possible.

“In Paisley in 1957 there wasn’t a lot material wealth,” says 34 year-old Ryan.

“But what young people had was music and the cinema, two or three times a week, because it was so cheap back then.

“They would drink, but they couldn’t afford to drink every night. But what they had was hope. Hope for a bright future.

“And they had real sense of something happening. At one point in the play, an electric guitar comes into the building and people are desperate to see it.”

Young Scots were witnessing the American dream, of cars, telephones and fridges. They came to live in cafes and dreamed of being American.

“There is a real contrast to what young people do then and now,” says Ryan. “I think back then it was a lot classier.

“But those who see the play will see there are aspects of teen life which remain the same. Even though there is the bravado and optimism in the carpet factory, we see the same insecurities.”

The insecurities usual emerge when teenagers are confronted with someone they fancy.

“At that age you don’t really know who you are,” says Ryan with a wry smile.

“You’re goal in life is to speak to the good-looking girl you see at the party. But trying to talk to girls is really hard.”

The seventeen year-old Ryan was no different. The fairer sex were aliens.

“I was clueless about girls until I went to drama school,” he says, grinning. “That was my key to life.”

But what he also has in common with his stage character Phil (who is based loosely on John Byrne) is Ryan knew exactly where he wanted to be.

Ryan, who has just completed a stint in BBC Scotland’s Outlander, in which he appears as a Redcoat, was desperate to join the RSAMD in Glasgow.

“Phil McCann is trying desperately hard to get into art school. And I know what this feels like. I was so desperate to get into drama school.

“I had been to the RSAMD junior academy on Saturdays. I knew then where I wanted to be. When I was sixteen I knew I needed to speak to someone and tell them I wanted to come here.”

But there was a major hurdle to leap over.

“There was no drama department in my school (Blantyre High) so I begged the headmaster to let me go to Hamilton Grammar to take lessons.

“I knew I had to study Drama at high school or there was no way I’d get into drama school. And so I taxied back and forwards all the time, with my mother paying the fares.”

It was rare for the RSAMD to accept 17 year-olds, but such was Ryan’s talent he was in.

“And if hadn’t got in . . . I don’t know. Maybe I may have gone to England.”

Did drama school give him confidence? “I think I began to understand the point of my life,” he says, succinctly.

He loves his professional life. When working.

“If it were all about the fame and the money I’d have given up a long time ago,” he says, grinning.

“When it’s good it’s the best job in the world. But when there’s nothing coming in its grim”

Ryan’s been on the roller coaster. In River City fame as Vader. Working with the National Theatre of Scotland on Blackwatch, travelling the world. Appearing in London’s West End.

But there have been ‘resting’ periods.

“You’ve just got to hope that something will turn up. Meantime, I go to the gym, play guitar. Sometimes I work with my dad, who’s a welder, driving the van or whatever.

“And I’ve moved into a new flat (with actress girlfriend Hannah Donaldson) in Glasgow’s south side.

“That means I’ve been tiling and papering, and building kitchen units. But I enjoy it.”

Right now, acting life is wonderful. He’s appearing in a cult play, and working alongside real talent, including younger brother Scott Fletcher, who appears as Hector.

The play picks up a few hours on from when we left the boys in the slab room, with the unattainable love interest Lucille arriving at the dance with the university-bound Alan.

Yet, Ryan grins as he reveals he has had to make sacrifices for his art.

“I’m playing a 19 year-old,” he says, smiling. “So the beard has to go. And I’ve been growing my hair long now for a few months so I can create a quiff.

“It’s all got to look right.”

What makes the play especially alluring for the actors is they get the chance to speak in speech bubbles.

“We deliver lines, but then say something in a speech bubble which no one else can hear – except the audience.

“It’s our way of letting the audience in on what we are really thinking.”

Ryan adds, smiling; “And it really works. It’s writing like this that makes John Byrne a genius.”

*Cuttin’ A Rug also stars Mark Barrett (Terry), Laurie Ventry (Willie Curry), Shaun Miller (Alan), Paul-James Corrigan (Spanky), Helen Mallon (Lucille), Anne Lacey (Mrs Walkinshaw) and Louise McCarthy (Bernadette).

The Citizens’ Theatre, February 8 – March 4.