Former West End star Irene Warren runs the Performance Academy and plays Barbie in the Everyman panto
How is Beauty and the Beast going?
It’s intense. It’s three shows a day, morning, afternoon, and evening. It’s our job as actors to make sure we give everything so that every show is the same. I love the Everyman, it’s such a beautiful theatre. I remember performing in the panto there as a child with Billa O’Connell and Paddy Comerford, and it was directed by Michael Twomey. Everyone is so nice there.
Was a Barbie character a ‘must’ this year?
You want a character that the children can connect to and Barbie was everywhere this year. And so instead of the character of the Feather Duster it made sense to make it Barbie. I think she’s a strong character and it’s good to show children and young girls they should stand up for what’s good.
You combine rollerskating and acting for the role - that must be intense?
It’s not too bad actually – I performed in Starlight Express for a year on the West End, I think it was in 1999. Eight shows a week. For Starlight Express, you go through about eight auditions and then you have an audition before Andrew Llloyd Webber and Arlene Phillips, and they see that you’re able to skate - some people just wouldn’t be able to skate, and they couldn’t get the part. Then you have six weeks at skate school. My character in Starlight Express Dinah wasn’t unlike Barbie actually, with the blonde wig. My roller skates in the panto are my old ones from Starlight Express.
Do the skates ever get a run out in public?
When my son was younger, we used to go down the walkway from Douglas towards Passage, the old ‘line’. He’d be on his bicycle and his mad mum would be there on her roller skates!
You had a very big part in Michael Collins - A Musical Drama?
I originated the role of Kitty Kiernan in the Michael Collins show. It was amazing, and the triangle between Kitty Kiernan and Michael Collins and Harry Boland is such a love story. The story is incredible and it was one of my favourite roles in my career. We premiered in the Opera House and performed in the Olympia and in Waterford.
• Beauty and the Beast runs at the Everyman until Jan 14th. See everymancork.com
