'Panto has always been a massive part of my life': Michael Sands shares his panto memories 

I’m currently in rehearsals playing the Wolf in Red Riding Hood with my great friends at The Everyman, some of whom I’ve been working with for years and years, like my director Catherine Mahon Buckley, actor Fionula Linehan, and producer, Naomi Daly.

During my time there, I’ve also been privileged to work with Jim Mulcahy, Ciaran Birmingham, and the late Frank Twomey, to name but a few.

My first experience of panto was running across the stage in one scene in the Opera House as a 10-year-old in Sinbad the Sailor. Little did I know then that this would lead me to becoming a professional actor and singer as my career.

As a teenager in the Montforts, we performed in the ensemble in panto and thanks to the incredible Eileen Nolan, who took me under her wing a few years later, I was cast as the Prince opposite Rebecca Storm.

There I got to work with the legends of Cork theatre Michael Twomey, Billa, Paddy Comeford, Barret and Sullivan, from whom I learned so much

An English company were casting Snow White in Dublin in my early twenties and I said I’d give it a try. To my big surprise I was cast and next thing I know I’m in the UK performing opposite EastEnders stars Michele Collins, Letita Dean, and Bradley Walsh. That really was a pinch-me moment.

Panto has always been a massive part of my life because from that show I made my West End debut in Fiddler On The Roof at the London Palladium and went on to shows like Les Miserables, Camelot and Riverdance.

It may sound like a cliche but when you are doing a panto you do become like a family because you spend three months all day with the cast in the rehearsal room and the theatre over the Christmas period.

One of the kindest things I remember, as I knew no-one when I got to England in Snow White, was being invited to spend Christmas Day with cast members and their families. I’ve never forgotten that.

The question most actors get asked is how tough it is doing so many shows a week, and it is, but you have to realise that this is the first time a lot of kids have ever been to the theatre and a live show.

Believe me, to hear and see the excitement on their faces and the fantastic interaction you only get in panto would get you through anything.

One morning last year, going in to The Everyman for the 11am show, all the kids were lined up in their pairs the whole way down MacCurtain Street, so excited to see the show. While they were waiting they got all the traffic on MacCurtain street to go beep, which they did. We could hear them up in the dressing room. That video went viral. If anyone is feeling a bit down, check it out, it will warm the cockles of your heart!

That’s why I feel so fortunate as an actor to have the brilliant job I have in panto.