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There is, we are told, no business like show business, and every year brings more and more starry-eyed youngsters beating at the doors of success and fame.

It’s little wonder Keith Hanley was chosen last Christmas to play Prince Charming in Cinderella at the Everyman Palace in Cork.

CADA Performing Arts drama school in Cork, having successfully staged the musical CATS, is now preparing for Les Miserables, at the Firkin Crane theatre. Catherine Mahon-Buckley, CADA’s unflappable director, takes the enormous undertaking in her stride.

Live music: The Blades - The Olympia, Dublin

THEATRICAL stalwart Catherine Mahon-Buckley has surely earned the title of Mammy of Cork pantomime season now that she is directing her 20th seasonal show for the Everyman. Mahon-Buckley is directing Jack and the Beanstalk for the theatre, and says that every five years, a new generation emerges.

It’ll be his 20th year to don his wig, strap on his sky-scraper heels and totter onstage — but panto dame Jim Mulcahy loves the craic as much as ever.

Corkman Darragh O’Leary tells Irene Feighan how his love of dance led to a life-changing experience at the London Olympics

Founder Eileen Nolan is still at the helm of the Montfort College of Performing Arts as it launches its new HQ, says Colette Sheridan

IT’S that time of year, when Cork’s favourite pantomime dame, Jim Mulcahy, dons big hair, make-up and loud female costumes.

WITH children watching 3D movies, playing on XBoxes, iPads and Nintendos, not to mention being captivated by the hysteria of The X Factor and other reality shows, going to a pantomime over the Christmas holidays may seem old fashioned.

SHE may be playing a dead pirate but her special talents have helped breathe life into a swashbuckling Christmas pantomime.