“I’ve got an idea for a show…”

It was 2016 and Andrew Kay and I were celebrating the success of a sold-out performance of our latest collaboration when he turned to me and said those fateful words. In that moment The Choir of Man began — and perhaps fittingly, it began over a pint in a beer garden.
Andrew explained the idea: a group of ordinary blokes who meet up to sing a few songs over a drink or two. It’s not just about the drinking, and it’s not just about the singing. It’s about being together. Laughing, crying, singing, shouting, talking… whatever it is, it’s about the joy of being in the same place at the same time as the people you love.
“…and,” he added with a twinkle in his eye, “we should call it The Choir of Man.”
And just like that, an idea was born.
At the time I’d spent about twenty years working as a professional singer, so I knew a bit about singing. I’d also spent a fair amount of time in pubs during those same twenty years, so combining the two felt less like inspiration and more like basic time management…
Choirs and pubs have a lot in common. In both places people raise their voices in joy or sorrow — and in both places there’s always someone who thinks they’re a tenor!
So, we set out to find normal blokes. Men who could sing, play instruments, maybe move a bit — but most importantly, men who looked like they might plausibly be found leaning on a bar with their mates. Our aim was to create a show about a group of friends singing together… and somewhere along the way we accidentally created a group of friends making a show together.
Three intense weeks later we presented the first version of the show in a tiny venue in North London to an audience of mostly friends and family (who had been persuaded to come along with the promise of free beer). The room was so small we were practically performing on top of them but from the beer to the choral arrangement of Sia’s Chandelier, the audience loved it. The atmosphere was electric.
At the end of the show Andrew turned to me and said, “I think you may have something here…”
And he was right.
Since opening at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2017, The Choir of Man has spent over four years in London’s West End, toured multiple times across the USA, Europe and Australia, Korea and China, played three sold-out seasons at the Sydney Opera House, appeared on cruise ships, made a home in Chicago, and even picked up an Olivier Award nomination along the way.
And tonight it finds itself here in the IMB Theatre, Wollongong.
Not bad for an idea that started with a pint in a beer garden. Although, in fairness, a lot of good ideas start that way.

Nic Doodson – Creator, Producer and Director