PLAYWRIGHT Cathy Forde was given the remit to write a play which referenced children’s charity Mary’s Meals.

However, the resulting play, One In A Million, which runs this week at Oran Mor, isn’t an hour-long history of the charity, or a paean to it’s incredible work.

Alan McHugh, who stars in the play alongside London-based actor Teri Ann Bobb-Baxter, explains the reality.

“The play has been inspired by Mary’s Meals, (the charity which feeds starving children abroad, with a centre in Glasgow,) but it’s not about hitting anyone over the head with the charity hammer,” says the actor.

“The story is really about how Mary’s Meals has affected the life of the female character in the play.”

The story features Susan, a young woman from Blantyre with somewhere else she’d far rather be than the project room in a Glasgow school.

It’s there she meets Gerry (Alan), a school handyman.

The pair talk, they share thoughts and we discover detail of their lives.

Gerry is pub-quiz fan who never passes up on an opportunity for fact-finding.

Susan is a trainee teacher. But that’s just the surface detail. The conversation reveals so much more.

“Through the course of the play they go on a journey together,” says Alan, who once played the village bobby in High Road.

“And one of the things we learn is that Susan grew up in Africa, in the most desperate of circumstances. We discover members of her family died of malnutrition. And we come to learn how she was saved from the same fate.”

Alan, who lives in the South Side of Glasgow adds; “It’s a funny, poignant play that ticks all the boxes.

“And Gerry is a great character to play. He isn’t grumpy, but he’s a serious guy who doesn’t smile much.”

So he’s a typical Scot, then?

“Yes, that’s what he is. And it’s not he goes through this journey and turns out to be cheery once he learns of Mary’s Meals, but he certainly does become more aware about Africa.

“And in the course of conversation with the trainee teacher he opens up about his own problems.”

Is Gerry cynical about charities, given the negative press many charities have been attracting these days?

“No, he’s not. He’s a kind sort of guy, it’s just that his manner suggests he’s a dour b******.”

The play was performed in Aberdeen last week, prior to the Glasgow run.

“It was so nice to be in Aberdeen and wear a frock,” says the actor smiling.

He’s talking about professional cross-dressing, of course. Alan stars in panto in Aberdeen every year alongside Elaine C. Smith.

But he doesn’t just appear in panto, he also writes them. In fact, he writes five panto from scratch, for theatres such as Perth and the SECC.

However, he also works as a panto script doctor for the Qdos Entertainment organisation.

“I think I have a hand in about nineteen pantos,” he says, grinning.

“They’re all written thankfully, and we start panto rehearsals in Aberdeen in six weeks,” he says.

“I can’t believe it’s come about so soon. Then it’s the New Year and back to writing panto for 2016.”

He adds, laughing, “The challenge is to keep sane during this period and try and avoid a situation whereby Cinderella ends up having a one-night stand with Aladdin.

“It feels as though my whole life is a panto.”

Not quite. Alan is also set to appear at the Clyde Auditorium in January as part of the cast of Limmy Live. He has been a regular on the TV show.

“We’re doing four nights, and it will be great fun.”

Meantime, he’s being grumpy at Oran Mor this week.

“Yes, grumpy, but smiling inside,” he says. “Or being Scottish, as it’s known.”

• One In A Million, Oran Mor, until Saturday.