“To capture the imagination of a child is magical.”
Growing up I had two favourite books, The Secret Garden and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
Basically any book about children in a spooky old house that find a secret passage.
Needless to say when I heard that the stage production of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe was coming to the Bord Gais in Dublin I was ecstatic!
Even better I got to sit down and have a chat with Derry native Christina Tedders about her role in the show and find out a little behind the scenes goss too.
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I’m Christina Tedders, I’m from Derry and in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe I’m playing Mrs Beaver.
I’ve performed in several theatrical products over the years but it’s my first time doing this production.
We’ve been at it for a good few months now I think we opened in October and we’ll be continuing to tour until May.
What inspired you to become an performer?
When you have that desire to perform, it’s always present in you. You just become more increasingly aware of it.
When I was younger growing up in Derry there wasn’t much information or education on how one would become an actor, but I was lucky enough that I played with an orchestra and I was in a choir, I just performed in everything that I could.
I actually studied law in university but it was also during this time that I met people going to drama school and that was when I became aware of how to get started as an actor and after that I was off.
No stopping me then.
Were you a fan of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe growing up?
Yes, absolutely! I read the book when I was little and then the film came out in the early 2000s.
I remember the film really clearly because I remember how terrified I was of Tilda Swinton as the White Witch. She was so scary, well so is Sam in our production.
I re-read the book before I joined this cast because Mrs Beaver was a character that had slipped my mind but she’s actually a really integral character to the plot.
When I went to see the show there was a lot of children in the audience, do you guys really feed off that when you perform?
I absolutely buzz when the children are there!
I have to tell you sometimes when the kids are there, the noise when Aslan appears is overwhelming, they get so excited.
For me that’s how you know the show is good, because if you’ve got the kids, you’ve got it.
To capture the imagination of a child is magical.
Are you excited to perform at the Bord Gais in Dublin?
I’m so excited! I’m really buzzing for it!
The whole cast is buzzing to come to Ireland the week of Paddy’s Day and we all love the Bord Gais.
Every actor I speak to says ‘I can’t wait to go to the Bord Gais’ because it’s a brialliant theatre as an actor to perform in, it’s so full of life.
I always used to spend Paddy’s Day in Dublin growing up but a lot of the cast have never experienced it before so they can’t wait to get over.
Now, this has nothing to do with the show, but are you delighted another Derry native is representing Ireland in this year’s Eurovision?
I’m absolutely buzzing. Derry girls, I’m proud of them all.
It’s great to support another Derry girl and you know, we’ve done well in the past when we’ve sent a Derry girl to Eurovision so you never know.
The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe will have it’s Irish Premiere on March 15th at Bord Gáis Energy Theatre.
