Paul’s role as the POET is the central role and he’s outstanding as the person who narrates the show, telling the audience about each of the characters interspersed with some of the most joyful music which has the audience clapping, singing along and ultimately giving the cast a standing ovation.   The music is as diverse as Queen, Luther Vandross, Sia, Paul Simon, Adele, Guns & Roses, Avicii and Katy Perry. “Each cast member has their moment to shine,” says Paul whose favourite song is the final number, a traditional Irish and Scottish song, ‘The Parting Glass’. “It’s like a final toast to the audience,” he says. 

Paul first became interested in music as a boy, as he and his brother and sister were raised in the church. It is where they found their love for singing, and choral arrangements. “As we’ve grown up, we kind of more take the karma from religion as opposed to being heavily religious ourselves,” explains Paul. “But what we loved about church and the atmosphere of church was the choral singing which meant that we were singing in harmony subconsciously since we were three or four years old.”  The preaching might have been boring for the youngsters, but every now then they got to sing a “banger”.  Then as an adolescent Paul loved the Rolling Stones. “I wanted to be a rock star, still do …” he laughs. He plays the guitar but on stage he plays the piano and had to learn the accordion for his role.  He has to look after his voice, taking hydration tablets because under the stage lights and in the high energy show, they “sweat it all out”.

So, does Paul see himself ever returning to work in a pub? “Listen” he says, “the life of an actor, you have some periods waiting for your next job and I’ve been fortunate enough that everywhere I’ve worked has always wanted me back.” He’s actually very keen to run a pub theatre venue. “I’d love to be so ridiculously successful in my talent that I was able to buy the pub in my hometown and bring incredible musicianship to the little city of Stirling or Cambusbarron where I’m from,” he says. “It’d be a hub of what I grew up on which was live music and country dancing … having a soda and packet of crisps whilst you sat next to your granny or you sat next to your mum and played snooker, that sort of stuff.” Then he has another idea. “Or originate a superhero role in Marvel … or a biopic of Freddie Mercury, or Paul Rogers of Bad Company, or like, The Doors, or Jim Morrison, or something cool like that.

In the meantime, he’ll definitely be back to the Kennington pub in Oval, South London, where he got a job when he came back from doing Panto. The pub and its Sunday quiz is mentioned in the show. All the characters mention their favourite hostelry and Paul is loyal to his local “That’s where I grew up when I was in college, and I’ve worked on the cricket shifts,” he explains with a smile, “it can be dead and then 500 people turn up.” He also recalls that they gave him spare food when he was in college. “To save it from going to waste, they’d say to me ‘here take these burgers home, take this veg home, do you want these?” He even has his spare keys there, and they still have them. “It taught me a lot of common sense. It taught me a lot of growth, and it taught me to be humble,” he says. “Working in hospitality for sure, especially, you never know what you’re going to be asked, like um, how many chips are in a portion? Or someone walks in and asks ‘are you open’ when I’m prepping limes. No, no I just bring my limes here, you know. It’s quite a nice space to cut limes. You cannot be too sure,”  he laughs, but then makes a more serious point.  “I think that men sometimes don’t like to confide in people as much as they should and I feel like sometimes subconsciously they just start having a beer or a cup of tea and start speaking and being social.” 

THE CHOIR OF MAN supports the charity, Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) which enables anyone who needs it to contact their helpline. With community spaces, such as pubs suffering closures, throughout the UK it has become a vital service.  The show characterises community spirit and is so uplifting.  Just wait until you hear the choir’s version of ‘Hello’ (by Adelle). It is electric, expect the hairs on the back of your head to bristle. “The show was created by a bunch of mates, they then kind of extended themselves and heightened the characters,” explains Paul. “These roles are then passed on to the next cast, who make it their own. It’s been an absolute gem to have been involved in it because everybody wants to be part of it.”