SOUND & MUSIC: THE SOUNDTRACK OF A LIFE

For Paddy Armstrong, music is more than just background noise—it’s memory, it’s feeling, it’s survival. It’s there in the highs and the lows, in love and in loss. Music helped Paddy make sense of the world, and it helped him stay grounded through the most difficult moments, including his time in prison. It has always been, in his words, “the soundtrack to my life.”

From the beginning, sound design was a vital part of this production. We didn’t want to use music just for atmosphere—we wanted it to mean something. Each track you’ll hear has a special meaning to Paddy and his family and been chosen to carry emotional weight or to bring a particular moment into sharper focus. Sometimes the music leads; sometimes it lingers in the background, just as it does in memory. But it’s always there for a reason.

Music is also central to Paddy’s relationship with his wife, Caroline—they first connected at a gig, and certain songs have followed them through their lives together. By weaving music through the play, we’re not just marking time, we’re telling the story of a man whose life has always had a beat running beneath it, even when everything else was silent.

If you'd like to revisit the songs that accompany Paddy's journey, we’ve created this playlist of the music featured in the show.