Panto dame Fionula Linehan: When I was younger I’d gone to theatre, watched it, loved it

Ireland’s only female panto dame, Fionula Linehan describes being in hospital and bidding goodbye to a sport she’d held dear — before life unexpectedly opened a door that led to a new passion she has been living since

Fri, 26 Dec, 2025 - 07:22

Helen O’Callaghan

I was in hospital having a hysterectomy when Princess Diana’s funeral was on. I had fibroids, benign growths — if I didn’t deal with them they’d grow, eventually cause blockages and damage.

I remember waking up on the Sunday, news of her death on the radio and it shocking the world. And sitting up in bed later that week, her funeral on the telly — patients and nurses all glued to it.

Fionula Linehan: 'I’d always been creative — back in the day I’d dress my brother up if he was in a fancy dress competition. We often won.' Picture: David Creedon

September 1997, I had two young children under four — Kedie Blaise and Kerri Ellen — they’re grown women now. I was a stay-at-home-mum then, my husband was in the navy and away a lot.

When you’re at home being a mother, it’s very fulfilling and busy, but I certainly wanted something fulfilling outside the home too, and for the longest time, since I was a teenager, martial arts was that for me.

It had been like a journey, going through all the different coloured belts to get to the stage where I was at — I had two black belts. To go from second to third black belt, you have to train for three years, which I had done ... but unfortunately I never got to take those grades because I’d become sick in the meantime.

Fionula at home with her dogs Maisy and Pearl in Frankfield, Cork. Picture: David Creedon

I had to go on medication to shrink the fibroids and that all took a toll on my system, which is why I couldn’t continue with the training.

So that time of the hysterectomy was like a funeral for me. Because I did go back training after the procedure but I’d never have been able to get back to the standard I had been. I could continue as a hobby, and I did for a while, which was OK but I just wanted to achieve in it.

It took me a while to realise. Trying to find the fulfillment that had been there all along, but not really finding it, eventually I knew it was a done deal.

I remember folding up all the white suits, the belts, tracksuits, the padding, and gum-shields — folding them all up and placing them at the back of the hot-press, and knowing I wouldn’t be taking them out again.

Fionula Linehan: 'When you’re at home being a mother, it’s very fulfilling and busy, but I certainly wanted something fulfilling outside the home too.' Picture: Chani Anderson

Something that had been very much part of my life that I felt fulfilled and achieving within — it was sad for me to put it all away.

Afterwards I’d often run into my trainer and when I’d see him it was like ‘oh, I’ll go back’ … the draw of it was like a drug.

But I didn’t know that day I was folding the karate suits away what was in store for me, what I was going to experience and find when I went down a different avenue.

Kedie started school in Maria Assumpta, Ballyphehane. They ran home-school liaison courses that parents could participate in while their children were at school: computers, gardening, baking. I tried courses as they came up. And then they were doing drama.

I’d always been creative — back in the day I’d dress my brother up if he was in a fancy dress competition. We often won.

The Live Mike show on TV — Mike Murphy going to people’s homes, pretending to be their long-lost cousin — that was my first time looking at the telly and thinking: how great to be an actor. It caught my imagination. The Live Mike was what flipped my mind towards anything dramatic.

So I went along to the drama course. Catherine Mahon Buckley facilitated it. Catherine always said she saw something in me. It’s grand to have talent, but if somebody isn’t prepared to take a chance on you, give you opportunity, what good is it? That’s what Catherine did for me.

I loved drama before I ever went in. And then I couldn’t wait to go back each week, to be given the scripts, the poems, something to explore and be creative with and use my imagination.

Fionula Linehan: 'It’s grand to have talent, but if somebody isn’t prepared to take a chance on you, give you opportunity, what good is it?' Picture: David Creedon

DID you ever just know you landed in your place? I landed in my place. I was good at it, I was confident in it — I had this opportunity to play, almost like a child but in an adult form.

I was greedy. I went down the academic road and became a teacher of drama. I also became an actor.

What I love about acting: depending on the gig, you could be in any world you wouldn’t otherwise experience. Living someone else’s life, albeit on stage, and researching the character gives you a lot more empathy for somebody you might meet in real life who’s in that situation.

One door closing and another opening — that’s been my experience. I firmly believe life gives opportunities at all different times — if you’re brave enough to step out and explore you don’t know what you’ll find.

I don’t ever compare the martial arts and the drama. Had I not got sick I don’t think I’d have deviated from martial arts but … maybe yes as I got older, because martial arts is a young person’s thing.

When I was younger I’d gone to theatre, watched it, loved it. I never thought ‘that’s where I’ll be’. I feel so blessed and glad it turned out as it did.

Ireland’s only female panto dame, Fionula Linehan, is in Cinderella at The Everyman, Cork, until Sunday, January 11. Directed by Catherine Mahon-Buckley and presented in association with CADA Performing Arts.