A tale as old as time; Beauty and the Beast opens at the Liverpool Empire later this month. Laura Davis talks to the man behind the mask.

Byline: Laura Davis

WHILE the whole of Merseyside is praying for a sunny August, Shaun Dalton is performing a rain dance in his dressing room.

For until the famous transformation scene at the end of Walt Disney's Beauty and the Beast, he is stuck wearing a latex mask.

Created from a mould made of his own face, it fits every contour perfectly.

Even so, he has to undergo laborious hair and make-up before each performance.

"We've got it down to an hour now because you get into a routine of it," says the 32-year-old actor.

"There's a different latex piece for every show and then you put on the wig and the body suit.

"In this weather, it's been quite warm. As you get into the show, your face gets used to it - it's just that the initial putting it on is a bit 'ouffff '."

As the Beast, the handsome prince turned into a monster by a witch's enchantment, Dalton gets to play both villain and good guy in a single role.

Repulsed by her ugliness, he refused to accept her gift of a red rose, so she dropped her disguise to reveal she was actually a beautiful enchantress and that, frankly, he shouldn't be so judgmental.

As for a handsome prince, there are few fates worse than being trapped in the body of a hirsute creature with a dodgy goatee, her curse doomed him to just that - at least until a girl blessed both with looks and the ability to see past superficial appearances declares her love for him.

While this may have been difficult for Beast to get to grips with, it's a boon for Dalton.

"Definitely," he agrees, "because you start out all mean and a bit scary but then you see him lighten up as you go along.

"When you walk out on stage you feel the audience is a bit scared.

"There's a bit where he bursts through a curtain and people jump out of their seats, which kind of amuses me a little bit because you can hear the audience mumbling.

"But as the show goes on people start to warm to him and it's nice to win an audience over.

"There are a few comedy moments as well where the audience laughs along with him and it's especially nice as you get into act two and you get to see a bit more of his softer side and how Belle and he bond and get closer."

Dalton, who is from Coventry, is one of the few actors who did not have a life-long burning desire to join the profession.

Although he had enjoyed singing as a boy, it wasn't until he was studying for his A Levels that he became interesting in acting.

"A teacher was late for a lesson one day and I got chatting to a girl in my class who was in an amateur company and I asked her all about it," he reveals.

"I went along and did that for a couple of years and then someone suggested drama school and I didn't even know what that was."

Dalton took a gap year to give him time to apply and won a place at Birmingham School of Speech and Drama.

"It's more of an actors' drama school than musical theatre," he says. "But, because I could sing as well, as soon as I got into Joseph I was sort of pigeonholed into musical theatre, which is fine - I'm not complaining. I really enjoy it.

"My main thing is the singing but it's nice when you've got a good script as well and can show a bit of your acting side."

He was in Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat for three years, when he acted alongside Boyzone's Stephen Gately.

He has also appeared in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, panto and various plays, as well as a bit of TV work that included medical drama Peak Practice.

During the last UKtour of Beauty and the Beast, Dalton understudied for the fiendish hunter Gaston, tavern owner Monsieur D''Arque and his current role, which he was asked to take on full time at the end of his last contract.

As a fan of the 1991 animation, the only full-length animated feature film to ever be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, he jumped at the chance.

"It was a great film and I was one of those guys who ended up buying all the Disney videos when they came out - Aladdin and all that afterwards - and with no shame in it either," he laughs. "I remember getting Aladdin for my 18th birthday - I didn't care."

While the show is aimed primarily at children, old audiences will enjoy it too, he says.

"There's a lot of stuff in there for adults to laugh along too as well and it's nice for them to see the two main characters falling for each other.

"There's what we call the 'library scene', which is a nice moment. It's not so much about the music as about the two of them getting on and how they start to fall in love.

"There's the drama with Gaston as well because he's the antithesis of the Beast.

"It's that age-old story of beauty lies within, it's nothing to do with how you look like on the outside. All the old traditional values are there."

Of course it helps the tale when, after proving you don't mind that your beau hasn't been blessed with the looks, you are rewarded with a handsome prince.

And it's not giving anything away to say that's exactly what happens here - in a dramatic transformation scene.

"I can't give away Disney's secrets," laughs Dalton. "Suffice it to say it's a nice illusion, and a lot of people come away saying 'how did they do that'.

"Some people have figured it out, but you have to watch carefully." * BEAUTY and the Beast is at the Liverpool Empire Theatre from August 11-22.

CAPTION(S):

Lumiere, the maitre d' of the Beast's castle has been turned into a candelabra Shaun Dalton as the Beast woos Belle in the stage version of Disney's Beauty and the Beast