Thurs 27 June – Saltburn Theatre.
Venue doors 6:45pm / Show 7:30pm / £10 + b/f (unreserved seating).
“Prepare to laugh, cry and revel in the sheer power of song”
10 years ago local musician and Wildcats of Kilkenny frontman Mike McGrother was asked to put a choir of men together for a one off event in Redcar. Inspired by our steel making industry and pioneering heritage, Mike set about creating a wall of sound that would resound with Teesside pride.
Only trouble was… nobody wanted to be in it! But undeterred, Mike resorted to an age old tactic – that of offering free beer for the night to any man who would come and sing. A small group of men arrived, and within 3 weeks, Mike had assembled a motley crew of 20 reticent singers. A couple of months later, the lads stumbled through a 20 minute set in Dormanstown. This resulted in a triumphant gig enjoyed by around 12 people and a passing ferret.
The choir’s second and final performance took place here in Saltburn Community Theatre supporting alongside Cajun maestro Gordie MacKeeman and his Rhythm Boys. And after their performance, the choir’s farewell was met with rapturous applause leading to a delegation of men approaching Mike. They declared that whilst admittedly that previously all of the lads had only joined because of the lure of beer, they had now ‘become a choir’ and they wanted to keep singing.
Taking their name from the song they had paid Joe Hammil to pen and accepting they would now have to buy their own beer, they named the choir Infant Hercules: A Choir for Men.
Ten years later, the choir has a regular membership of 50 – 60 men who meet to sing in a pub in Stockton. They have performed in theatres, venues, festivals, schools, social clubs, bridges and prisons across the North of England. As a result, Infant Hercules have thousands of pounds for charities and highlighting issues related to men’s mental and physical health. They sing because they can – and mime loudly if they can’t.
Join Mike and the lads as they look back with stories, song and singalong moments on 10 years of approximate harmonies and their recent efforts to encourage men to talk about cancer – The Cleveland Way. Prepare to laugh, cry and re-affirm your belief in the power of song.
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