Globe theatre critic Peter Grant finds out why Joe McGann is looking forward to sailing homeward in Sting's musical - The Last Ship

FIFTY years ago a young nine-year old boy pointed at the Liverpool Playhouse stage and said: "that's what I want to do." 

He was watching The Ghost Train by Arnold Ridley.

"The Playhouse and the Everyman infected me from that day on," he said.

Theatre also inspired his equally talented three younger brothers from Kensington in Liverpool: Paul, Mark and Stephen.

Joe will be on that very same stage next week in Sting's critically-acclaimed musical drama The Last Ship which is on a maiden UK and Ireland tour.

It has already graced the stage of Broadway and enjoyed a TONY nomination for Sting's music and lyrics.

The play is more than a labour of love for the internationally renowned singer-songwriter from humble working class origins.

It tells the heart-felt story of love, life and hope inspired by Sting's own childhood experiences and the collective defiance of a North East community facing the demise of the shipbuilding industry alongside a moving romance all taking place on a breath-taking set.

When a sailor named Gideon Fletcher returns home after 17 years at sea, tensions between past and future flare up in both family and his town.

The local shipyard, around which the community has always revolved, is closing and no-one knows what will come next, as a half-built ship towers over the bleak terraces.

Jackie White the foreman and his wife Peggy fight to hold their community together in the face of the gathering storm.

Joe plays Jackie - a role previously played by Jimmy Nail and Charlie Hardwick who plays Peggy is from Wallsend – Sting's home own.

Down-to-earth Joe was a household name as Charlie Burrows for six years in the sit-com The Upper Hand in from 1990.

His career pans theatre and film has seen him become one of the UK's most sought after stars in productions ranging from Fiddler on the roof to Calendar Girls and Elf and world premieres at the Everyman and Playhouse notably a tour-de-force, one man drama - One Fine Day in the '90s.

He is great supporter of new writing and his birthplace.

"Of course, I love Liverpool audiences too," he says about his home-town return.

He starred with his brothers in the 1995 TV drama The Hanging Gale about the 1846 Irish potato famine and is convinced Sting's play will resonate with Merseysiders.

Joe comes from a family of dock workers and says the Mersey and the Tyne are so similar with their changing fortunes.

"But people affected from any type of unemployment will relate to it.

"Factories closing like Plesseys.

"If you liked Blood Brothers and Billy Elliott it will strike an emotional chord.

"It is an 18-strong ensemble play for all ages - in every sense." 

He says Sting's music is timeless and unforgettable.

"It is exquisite – a joy to hear. It's only what you would expect from a craftsman.

"I go around all day humming the songs – all of them and not just the ones I sing in the production." 

He said the play works on so many levels because a lot of people who come to see it have experienced the same turbulent social period.

Joe sums up the play's universal appeal: "During one show I looked out into the third row and saw a man weeping ... and yet he had a smile on his face, too.

"He must have lived through it all." 

The Last Ship is on from April 9-14. 

Tickets from the box office on 0151 709 4776.