JOE McGann has been through his fair share of high pressure auditions in his career, writes JOHN ANSON. But nothing quite prepared him for having Sting turn up in this dressing room complete with guitar and the international rock star then asking him to sing one of his songs.

Whatever Joe did, it must have met with the great man’s approval, because he is now one of the main characters in The Last Ship, the musical written by Sting which is heading to the Lowry in the summer.

“It was a bit surreal to say the least,” said Joe. “I’d just come off stage from a performance of Elf at the Lowry - you couldn’t really go more from one extreme to the other.

“The producer of the Last Ship was there with Sting and he just said ‘you mean you don’t often get international rock stars in your dressing room?’ Then Sting said that Springsteen and Peter Gabriel would be along shortly.

“I just said ‘you’re not really helping me here, can we just sing the song?”

Joe plays shipyard foreman Jackie White in The Last Ship which charts the end of a north east shipyard. The musical is touring the UK for the first time, having had a brief run on Broadway in 2014.

“In trying to describe the show to people is kind of difficult,” said Joe, “as you don’t want to give away too many plot spoilers but at its heart it’s about people and it’s about communities.”

The Last Ship charts the experiences shared by many working class communities when a town’s key industry shuts down.

“I feel very strongly that the working classes need to be depicted honestly and as I remember them and as I know them and this does it very, very well - it’s as good as anything I’ve seen,” said Joe.

And he feels that the show has a real relevance to today.

“My daughter, who was born in 1988, came to see it and raved about it,” he said. “She’s been sending her friends along and they have all got it straight away. Perhaps it’s just timely at a time of Brexit and the Corbyn effect.”

Joe who has had an outstanding career both on stage and on screen believes that The Last Ship, which is playing to packed houses around the country, has much in common with another tour he was involved in.

“I was on the original tour of Blood Brothers in 1982 and the way this show pushes the audience’s emotional buttons, it’s that same effect. Doing Blood Brothers was extraordinary and it is the same with this. Sometimes I’m standing at the back crying my eyes out.”

Sting’s level of involvement in the production has impressed the whole cast, said Joe.

“Sting has said that he feels very strongly the debt he owes to the community that made him and that’s why he wanted to be honest about it,” said Joe. “He must have sat in on 90 per cent of rehearsals, getting across what he wanted, changing things on the spot, jumping up on the floor and singing with us, giving feedback.

“He has just showed an unbelievable commitment and openness. You don’t often get that from anyone, never mind an international rock star.”

And, Joe revealed, the show has had the same effect on the man who wrote it as it does on the audience.

“Last week in Newcastle he was watching the show and he was crying his eyes out,” said Joe. “This is not a vanity project; he’s totally committed to it. As a member of the cast, that gives you an amazing feeling.”

Everything about The Last Ship marks it out as a special show from the hi-tech projections which create shipyard cranes, tightly-packed streets and even the inside of a church to the songs which take the story along.

“I think it is a much overused word but you can’t deny the songs’ authenticity,” said Joe. “Sting lived in Wallsend, he lived in the shadows of those ships. You’re going to have go a long way to find a more authentic voice.”

To find his own authentic voice for the production, Joe based Jackie on five or six people he knew and looked up to.

“Jackie has that quiet strength,” said Joe. “He’s a self-taught man and if he has a flaw, it’s that he believes that people who have been educated and are above him in society are going to be fair. When that doesn’t happen that’s a total affront.”

Joe was full of praise for his fellow cast members which includes Richard Fleeshman and Frances McNamee.

“Theatre I love most involves groups of people all doing simple things, all doing their bit,” said Joe. Then when it all comes together, it becomes something bigger than the sum of its parts. We all feel this show is really special and we are extremely proud of it.”

n The Last Ship, the Lowry, Salford Quays, Tuesday, July 3 to Saturday July 7. Details from 0843 208 6000 or www.thelowry.com