My Weekend: Hitting the right notes for Everyman panto

It was (and still is) a no-frills city to grow up in. My father worked in the shipyards and some of my earliest memories are being taken to the river and watching the launch of the latest ship while nearly freezing to death. My mother was a stickler for correct speech, so I had two accents, a When the Boat Comes In accent for school so I wouldn’t get beaten up and a Downton Abbey accent for home to appease mother. Everyone in the family played a musical instrument apart from my mother who sang soprano, so parties in the house were somewhat boisterous affairs. I’m sure when friends were invited round they frantically tried to come up with an excuse to avoid a ‘Von Trapp’ experience.
Following a degree in music in Newcastle I worked in theatre productions and then on to more mainstream rock and pop gigs and recording.
It was while recording an album in Dublin in 1992 that I decided to make Ireland my home (my wife calls me a Brefugee) and moved to Cork in 2003.

Jack And The Beanstalk runs at the Everyman until January 12, with a 7.30pm start and finishing around 10.15pm. Matinees on various dates too, see everymancork.com.
ISL Performance on Friday, January 3, at 1.30pm.