Fantastic Phantom
By Tara McWeeney
David Shannon has come a long way from where he grew up in Drogheda. Taking the star role in one of the West End’s most celebrated plays “The Phantom of the Opera” Tara McWeeney chats to the actor about growing up in Ireland and what his friends think of him prancing about on stage.
For a boy from small-town Drogheda David Shannon is more than happy with where he’s got to with his acting career. At present he is playing Raoul, the lead in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical The Phantom Of The Opera in London’s West End. And he’s enjoying every minute of it.
‘Raoul is a great character to play,’ he explains. ‘Although he can be played quite straight I wanted to show him in a new light because as a character he does everything for all the right reasons but it never goes the right way for him. Plus I love playing an aristocrat especially with the great costumes.’
But despite his obvious enthusiasm, for Shannon, performing in the role of an opera singer is one part he never thought he would play. In fact he openly confesses he’s never been a huge fan of the genre.
It’s also apparent when walking into his Her Majesty’s Theatre dressing room that this isn’t your typical stage school actor. With a leather jacket and guitar taking prominence in the room there is the aura of a rock musician here which he actively admits.
‘I’ve always been big into my rock music. Unfortunately when I watched The Phantom for the first time I didn’t take to it because of its opera music and I was in a real rock phase at the time,’ he confesses.
But since then with some coercion from an opera-singing friend he is starting to see things differently.
‘I’ve been persuaded to approach it, and it’s actually not quite as scary as it used to be,’ he admits.
‘I used to think that opera was for the very posh. But then a few years ago I became friendly with Rick Turfell an opera singer who’s phenomenal. He has totally changed my opinion of what opera and opera people are about. I mean at the end of the day, they’re just normal people, like you and me.
‘There’s a stigma around opera that it’s for the rich but that’s completely not true.’
The rock music aspirations are ones that Shannon has decided to explore with a new album that he’s also currently working on.
It’s a project he first started a few years ago, but put it aside when he realised he wanted to make more than your atypical musical theatre album.
‘That’s just not me at all,’ he says. ‘It was only when I got together with a good writer friend of mine that we decided to make an album together of original stuff. Some of it may have a musical theme and some will be more poppy or rocky, but it’s definitely not going to be Metallica.’
Asked if he sees himself as a rock star of the future, Shannon laughs.
‘I loved being in a band and I miss it, but at the same time I have to be a bit more realistic,’ he muses.
‘The industry is focused on youth and moves so quickly. I also want to have lots of control over what I do, so I’ve become aligned to the fact that I’m never going to become an aging rock star.’
A good thing perhaps given that the Louth man reveals it’s the fame part of the music industry that he’s keen to avoid.
‘I don’t want to be famous. I don’t want to do the fame thing with photos being taken every five minutes and not being able to do anything. I’d hate it. I honestly mean it, I’ve never understood it. I think it’s because I come from a little Irish town and just don’t have that sort of background. I don’t think I’d handle it very well, and would probably just stop.’
Clearly Shannon’s humble roots keep his feet firmly on the ground, an attribute which adds greatly to his appeal.
But the artist has come a long way from his hometown in Ireland.
It was only after an impulsive decision to attend auditions in Dublin for the London musical Les Miserables that Shannon’s acting career started to take shape.
‘I did the local theatre but never really took it very seriously, as I suppose most people don’t when you come from a small town. You tend not to allow yourself to think beyond the next thing. But being in the right place at the right time and with some ambition to get there, I’ve been very lucky.’
Refreshingly, yet unsurprisingly given Shannon’s self-deprecating manner, playing one of the biggest roles in West End’s musical land hasn’t gone to the actor’s head. And if his friends at home have any say, it won’t either.
‘What’s nice is most people in Drogheda don’t know what I do apart from my closest friends. They love it and think it hilarious that I’m prancing around the stage in a cat outfit or what have you.
‘They love it because it’s so departed from the real life we have over there. My dad loves it and it gives him something to talk about in the pub on a Friday night.’
Leaving Shannon to prepare for the evening’s performance, curiosity forces the question of what he does to prepare himself for a night on stage.
The reply: ‘I just go around and chat to everyone. When I come on stage it comes on, when I come off it goes off. There’s no method acting for me, people who do that always seem to go crazy.’
A Drogheda boy, through and through.
