Could theatre get any more welcoming than inviting its audience on stage and handing out free beer? No wonder The Choir of Man has been winning fans in venues across the globe.
The original idea from creator, producer and director Nic Doodson was born over a pint with friends. What if he could capture the camaraderie of a group of ordinary blokes chatting and singing in a traditional pub, creating an experience unique to the time and place and people who were there?
I don’t know in how many traditional pubs you’ll find a man tap dancing across the bar or a group breaking into a tightly choreographed routine, chinking glasses in time to the music. But that’s just being picky, because while these scenes are definite crowd pleasers, it is the inclusiveness of the everyday that makes this show a winner.
The setting is The Jungle, an on-stage pub that the audience is invited to treat as its own local by joining the cast for a drink before the show and at the interval. Once the lights dim, nine men gather around the bar, and for the next couple of hours they sing, drink, tap dance and talk to us. It’s a simple format and one that’s hard to resist. Find me someone who can hear “Da-da da da” from The Proclaimer’s ‘I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)’ without echoing “Da-da da da” right back?
While there is ongoing debate about audience members singing along to musical theatre, ‘The Choir of Man’ unashamedly encourages it. When we get to second act all inhibitions have gone and everyone is up on their feet belting out Bon Jovi’s ‘Living on a Prayer’ at the top of their lungs. It is exhilarating to be in a crowd joining in with such child-like enthusiasm.
From the energetic opening of Guns N’ Roses ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ it is the music and song that carries the evening, with hits from Queen, Adele, Paul Simon, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Sia reshaped for nine male voices.
The weakness is the story. The characters are broad brushed to be typical of a group of men you might find in any pub – the barman, the romantic, the joker, the bore, and the hard man to name a few. Their stories are narrated by Poet (Mancunian actor Oluwalonimi Owoyemi) who quickly charms the audience. But it feels strange that the other performers can’t speak for themselves. And stranger still when the characters get mixed up with the actor’s real stories and we hear with genuine emotion about how Oluwalonimi saw his first theatre show at Lowry as a kid.
Perhaps the random mix of stories and characters all adds to the general confusion of a night in the pub where conversations flow from one topic to the next with no rhyme or reason. The closest I’ve experienced this was in pubs in rural Ireland where locals all seemed to have their turn, whether it be a poem, a song, a card trick or a tall tale.
Some people know each other, many don’t, but for one night we are a community. The overall feeling we’re left with is one of warmth and on opening night this was magnified 100 fold by the joint performance at the end by several community choirs as part of The Jungle Choir Community Project, an initiative inviting local choirs to take part in the production on opening night in every touring city.
The Choir of Man is at Lowry, Salford from 13-17 October 2026.