David Behrens finds out about life as part of the vast company behind the staging of Les Misrables.

It couldn't have been more theatrical. Michael Cahill was cutting someone's hair when suddenly an impulse seized him.

His future, he decided, lay not on the styling room floor at Vidal Sassoon in Leeds, but on a bigger stage.

"It really was a spur of the moment decision," he says. "Just like that."

It was 1986. A career in the family hairdressing business in Bradford was beckoning the 21-year-old Cahill - but he followed his instinct, downed scissors and headed for London.

"A lot of people thought I was crazy to up sticks and move, and go into something I knew nothing about," he says. "But I knew that if I didn't to it then, I'd be too old."

To scan his CV now, there's hardly a doubt that he made the right decision. West End productions of Starlight Express, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and the title role in Martin Guerre are among his more notable credits.

Next week, however, will represent a particular career milestone. He will be back at Bradford's Alhambra Theatre - a stage whose boards he once trod as a juvenile with Bradford Catholic Players - as one of the cast of the record-breaking musical, Les Misrables.

"My last appearance there was in The Sound of Music," he says. "I was one of the kids.

"Ever since, I've dreamed of going back."

Returning to Bradford, however, will not be without its problems - and not just for Cahill.

"The entire cast is currently phoning everyone in town, looking for accommodation," he says.

Les Mis is in the midst of uprooting cast and crew at the end of a three-month run in Southampton, and preparing for a similar residency at the Alhambra.

"It's a huge change for everyone," says Cahill. "Because there's such a big crew, and an orchestra too, everyone is clamouring to get the right telephone numbers to book the best venues to stay in.

"Three months is a long time and you obviously want somewhere you can call home. It's not just a quick stopover.

"We've all been trying desperately to get places in the country. Everywhere in Haworth is booked. Saltaire, too."

Cahill himself has yet to find somewhere, having declined all offers of spare rooms from his relatives.

The city, he says, has changed since he waved goodbye to Bradford Moor 12 years ago. "Leeds seems to have taken over the commercial side of things. I don't know why. At least Bradford still has the Alhambra."

He will return, as he left, single. "I've never kept still long enough to start a family," he says.

"When you're on tour, it's difficult. That's why a lot of actors tend not to settle down until they're established - or at least until they've given it a good few years.

"One or two people in this cast have managed to bring their partners and families with them; the rest are keeping their fingers crossed that they'll have a relationship to go back to at the end of the year.

"But that's all part of an actor's lifestyle. There's a lot of the gypsy in us, you know."

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