A question of taste: Jason Broderick

Cork actor Jason Broderick is among the cast of Wicked that will run at the Bord Gais Energy Theatre in Dublin from July 17 to Sept 1. Now based in London, he has previously appeared in Anna Nicole in the West End, and various productions in his hometown, writes Des O’Driscoll

Best recent book you’ve read:

The Four Disciplines Of Execution — A non-fiction book about the four key things that you have to do in order to achieve your wildly important goals in life and business. If you only read one book this year, make it this one and every year you have from now on will be a better one.

Best recent film:

We have a little classic film club going among some of the cast of Wicked. Once a month we get together in one of our touring living rooms and watch what we consider a must-see film. The latest was Jaws, Steven Spielberg’s big budget directorial debut. If you haven’t seen Jaws, do yourself a favour and sit down to an early masterpiece of cinematic suspense.

Best piece of music you’ve been listening to lately (new or old):

My best recent discovery is indie electronic-rock band alt-J. My favourite songs are ‘The Gospel of John Hurt’, the scandi-inspired ‘Hunger Of The Pine’ - with an incredible music video - and ‘Every Other Freckle’ which has some of the best lyrics I’ve heard in years.

First piece of music that really moved you:

I don’t know about “first” but I have a playlist that I call “Moody Morning” which has some beautiful pieces of music in there that really affect me. The opening track is Chopin’s Ballade No 1 in G Minor which is more usually recognised as the iconic piece played during the infamous German Officer scene from The Pianist; an incredibly moving moment from an incredibly moving film.

Tell us about your TV viewing:

I am a proper Netflix addict. One that has really stuck out for me lately was Mars. This is the incredibly clever semi-documentary about Elon Musk’s space exploration company SpaceX and their mission to land the first humans on Mars by 2033.

Radio listening or podcasts:

I never listen to the radio but I love podcasts. If you hated history at school as much as I did (a miserable teacher who loathed teaching almost as much as he seemed to hate kids) but you love historical films and TV, then I highly suggest a podcast called Hardcore History. It’s by a contemporary historian Dan Carlin, an incredible storyteller, it’s like listening to Gladiator or Saving Private Ryan.

Your best celebrity encounter:

Selling perfume to Bruce Willis at Harrods while I was at drama school. I had to choose between telling him I was an actor too and potentially losing all my sales commission on what he bought. I stayed silent!

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You can portal back to any period of human cultural history — where, when, and why?

Probably the Renaissance for me. I’ve always had a strong affinity for medieval Europe in terms of culture, art and music. I love Assassins Creed, especially the period set in Florence around the time of Rodrigo Borgais but of course that is a romanticised, dramatised version and I’m far more likely to catch the plague then to find myself sharing a bottle of Barolo with Da Vinci.

Unsung heroes:

The technical and stage management departments of our show! They work sometimes twice as long and twice as hard as us and we are the only ones taking a bow at the end of each show. My mind boggles at the level of complexity and detail that goes into creating Wicked eight times a week.

You are king for a day – what’s your first decree?

That everybody is required to spend one day per week doing only things that they love to do. No responsibilities, no work, just spending time really living your life. We all go around worrying and stressing so much about working and responsibilities, just so that we can go back to more work and responsibilities the next week. Most of us will get to 70 and realise we have been living our whole lives “in preparation” for something, instead of actually living it. Memento Mori; you’re a long time dead.