'I didn’t know where Cork was': Hamilton star on walking in Frederick Douglass' footsteps

Since arriving in Ireland for an event to celebrate the life of the anti-slavery campaigner, Paul Oakley Stovall has been moved by what he's discovered 

Paul Oakley Stovall with Fionnuala O'Connell of Cork Migrant Centre at the launch of the Douglass in Ireland exhibition, at Nano Nagle Place. Picture: Clare Keogh

This time last year, Paul Oakley Stovall was playing the role of George Washington in the musical phenomenon Hamilton and enjoying every minute of it. Then Covid struck and everything changed, the iconic show created by Lin-Manuel Miranda just one of the thousands of productions that went dark around the world due to lockdown.

“I had taken over [the role] in early September 2018. It had been a year and a half. I was coasting along, I was happy to do it for another couple of years. It was great craic, as you say,” says Stovall.