The Everyman's first female panto dame: 'There's magic around the panto at Christmas'

Deirdre McArdle talks to Fionula Linehan and Catherine Mahon Buckley about bringing the Everyman’s first female panto dame to life

Catherine Mahon-Buckley, (left) producer & director of the Everyman & CADA presentation of the Christmas Panto, Beauty and the Beast, in Cork, and Fionula Linehan who plays the first ever female dame in the panto. Picture: Denis Minihane.

Bursting onto the stage on a scooter as panto dame Peggy Twomey in the Everyman’s production of Beauty and the Beast, Fionula Linehan is having the time of her life. 

Her turn as the Everyman’s first female panto dame is receiving rave reviews, but better yet, Fionula is relishing her part in people’s Christmas traditions.