Beauty and the Beast opens at the Liverpool Empire later this month. Laura Davis talks to the man behind the mask

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.