'We work as one big family’: Seanie Spillane on life backstage at The Everyman

The panto is a quintessential part of Christmas for so many people every year, and especially so for Cork man Seanie Spillane.

A backstage technician at the Everyman, Seanie’s first experience of pantomime came 23 years ago when he worked on Cinderella.

Seanie is involved in building the sets at the Everyman, and in managing the stage.

When we spoke, he was preparing to work on the very same panto again- although he says his role has changed dramatically since those early days.

“I’m a crew boss on the pantos, so if a wheel gets stuck or a door breaks, I need to fix it within seconds to be ready for the next scene,” he explains.

When Seanie first started as a backstage technician in 2002, his role was a much more physical one.

“There have been so many changes in the last ten years,” Seanie said.

These changes include the introduction of new sound equipment and changing from the old lighting to LED lighting.

Prior to that, new flies and counterweights were put in place back in 2009.

“This made our job a lot easier than in the older days when you were pulling ropes hand by hand. Up to 2009, it was a very physical job. If you saw a bar or a cloth go down for a scene, that was someone pulling it, and it was really strong cloth and very heavy. Sometimes it took two men to pull those cloths. It wasn’t easy, especially in panto when you are changing scenes a lot. You’d have two people bringing one cloth in and pulling another out.”

Catherine Mahon Buckley has been directing the Everyman and CADA panto for the past 30 years and always has a surprise in store for Seanie. He expects this year will be no different.

“Catherine is a friend of mine, and for some reason she always gets me to do a role...some kind of cameo. I’ve been doing Donald Trump in costume, with the shirt and tie and the masks for a couple of years,” Seanie said laughing.

Does he like being on the stage?

“I love it for the few seconds I’m on it. It’s great fun”.

It is backstage, though, where Seanie is happiest at panto time.

“It’s an extremely busy time for me. I love it. It’s a get-together with the crew that you wouldn’t see from one end of the year to the other end of the year.

“We work as a family for the bones of 10 to 12 weeks. You’re eating, drinking, practically sleeping together on the stage because you have two, sometimes three shows a day. You are one big family,” he says.

The panto season typically runs from November to January and, Seanie says, “is go, go, go, go,” for its duration.

“Everything is live, and it changes so quick. Scenes are so fast, and with it going for six to eight weeks, you are going to see problems occur,” he said.

The Everyman is a year-round operation of course, and Seanie said there is a huge diversity in the kind of shows on stage these days.

“It’s not all about the dramas and the operas; the diversity has changed, with lots of people enjoying lots of different shows.

“No two days are the same. We could take out a big, massive set one day and the next day it’s a one-man show.

“We had that only a few weeks ago with The Girl on the Train. It was sold out completely. It had a big set, and when we finished on the Sunday night, it took us five hours to take the whole set down and put it back into two trucks. This was at about 4am in the morning. The following day, it was a one-man show on stage.

“That’s the life that theatre is. Theatre is full of excitement and no two shows are the same.”

A personal highlight for Seanie is the Easter shows put on by the drama schools from across Cork.

“You could have kids from 2 to 17 and you could have 50 to 60 kids on stage when they are rehearsing. It’s hectic.

“I had two grandchildren in it myself for the first time last year, and I was so proud of them – they are only five years old,” he said.

He likens the production of the shows at the Everyman to an iceberg.

“You see the top of the iceberg- and that’s you walking in to watch the production, but you don’t see what goes on behind the scenes....the rehearsals, the box office, the cleaners- everyone plays a part in the production,” he said.

Seanie holds his crew and technical manager, Mark Donovan, in very high esteem.

“There’s four of us in the crew [Seanie, Freddie, Patridge and Louis] and without that crew I’d be lost....these three lads, they are going to be seeing me out. It’s like another family.. They’ll carry on the legacy that I’ve had the past 23 years, and they’ll add more to it,” Sean said.

This article appeared in the 2025 Holly Bough .