Play brings out the Beast in Matthew

May 28 2007 By The Journal

Behind those protuberant fangs and beneath those rather fetching horns is actor Matthew Cammelle who will be stepping on to the stage at Newcastle Theatre Royal tomorrow (tues) as Beast, opposite Ashley Oliver's Belle, in the musical based on the Disney film.

Beauty and the Beast has a two-week run at the Grey Street venue as befits its perceived pulling power.

The Disney story has been seen by millions on screen and has even been performed on ice in Newcastle previously. Now the famous characters are being recreated in theatres.

After a bit of understandable moaning about the costume - not ideal with summer upon us - Matthew says of the Beast: "It is a really nice part actually and I'm used to masks and costumes because I recently finished playing the Phantom in the West End.

"One good thing about putting all that stuff on is that nobody can tell it's me under there. It could be anyone.

"Seriously, though, it is quite a challenge, making sure I generate the right sort of emotions when I've got my face behind a mask. It requires a particular type of acting."

I wonder if the anonymity means Matthew is spared the butterflies which often plague actors before a show. He laughs: "If only! No, I'm afraid it's exactly the same."

The show, he says, has been getting a great response from audience members, young and old. "I've got a little son, Joseph, who's two-and-a-half and he's seen the film but I haven't appeared before him in the costume yet. I'm a bit worried it might traumatise him for the rest of his life."

Matthew met his wife, Heidi, when they were in The Phantom of the Opera together. She was playing Meg Giry but, says her husband, "she's hung up her dancing shoes for now. We'll have to wait and see if she wants to get back into it."

Matthew, originally from Sevenoaks in Kent, studied drama at Hull University where he got into the National Student Theatre Company.

"We took West Side Story to the Edinburgh Fringe and I was playing Tony. An agent saw me and said, `We think we might be able to get you some work'. I was 23 and just finishing off my degree.

"I was a bit stymied for a while. I knew this was what I wanted to do but I never expected it to be this easy. I was really just lucky.

"My family didn't really have enough money to send me to drama school in London so I imagined I would have years of struggling. As it happens, I've spent the last 18 years working pretty solidly."

Other notable roles have been in Les Miserables and Aspects of Love.

Beauty and the Beast is at the Theatre Royal from tomorrow until June 9. For tickets, tel. 0870 905 5060. Or book online at www.theatreroyal.co.uk