Coleraine’s Jayne stars in Lyric’s ‘Kiss Me Kate’

“She comes across as a dumb blone but she isn’t really - she knows her game.”
Coleraine actress Jayne WisenerColeraine actress Jayne Wisener
Coleraine actress Jayne Wisener

That’s how Coleraine actress Jayne Wisener describes her character in the Lyric Theatre’s forthcoming production of Cole Porter’s classic musical ‘Kiss Me Kate’.

The ‘show within a show’ bursts onto the stage of the Ridgeway Street venue on February 1 and runs until February 22 and is a joint collaboration between Northern Ireland Opera and the Lyric Theatre.

Jayne, who is based in England but is enjoying being back in Coleraine for the duration of the show, has been commuting to Belfast for the busy rehearsal process.

“It has been a hard few weeks, there’s lots of dancing to learn as well as the songs but it’s been fantastic. It’s such a classic old style Hollywood musical by Cole Porter and while some of the songs are sung in an operatic tyle, thy are mostly belting or crooning tunes. Most people say that they know the songs but never realised that they came from Kiss Mr Kate.”

With classics such as Too Darn Hot; Another Op’nin’, Another Show; Brush Up Your Shakespeare; and So In Love, Kiss Me Kate follows a fiery couple of co-stars feuding both on and offstage in a production of Shakespeare’s Taming Of The Shrew. Whilst chaos reigns in this behind-the-scenes battle of the sexes, the show must go on...

Jayne plays singer Lois Lane (nothing to do with Superman, she asasures me!): “Lois is a wannbe star. She is an ex-nightclub singer who knows how to get where she wants to be in life. She plays Bianca in the Taming of the Shrew within the show and really shows that she is no dumb blonde.”

Jayne is also full of enthusiastic praise for her co-stars, particularly Melle Stewart who plays Lilli Vanessi (Katharine) and Norman Bowman who plays Fred Graham (Petruchio).

“The two leads are just outstanding. When you are in the room with them, all eyes are on them so I can’t wait to see what that it going to be like for the audience once we are on stage.

“There is also a very very talented cast from Northern Ireland such as Jack McCann who plays opposite me as Bill Calhoun (Lucentio). It’s just a fantastic show with incredible big musical numbers!”

Booking now at https://lyrictheatre.co.uk/event/kiss-me-kate/

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