INTERVIEW
Ruth Madoc
Ruth Madoc
starring in
The Wedding Singer
Cliffs Pavilion
15-19th August 2017
The Wedding Singer
Cliffs Pavilion
15-19th August 2017
Just as Ruth Madoc answers the phone to me, the fire alarm in the hotel that she’s staying at with her husband John, goes off rather loudly. “Ooh flippin’ ‘eck!” she exclaims whilst I hang on the other end of the phone waiting for the noise to subside which, when it eventually does, she asks me, “Now, what can I do for you love?”
The first thing I notice whilst talking to the actress, who is probably most well known for playing Gladys Pugh in the wonderful 1980s hit sitcom, Hi- De-Hi!, is that her Welsh accent isn’t half as thick as I thought it would be. There’s a definite lilt but even so, it’s nothing like that of the iconic radio announcer’s voice from Maplins holiday camp; which used to inform holiday makers of various activities, mostly located in the Hawaiian Ballroom or the Olympic sized swimming pool.
Of course Ruth has a plethora of acting experience, not only in tv but theatre and film too.
“I like to be a bit of a maverick and do everything. I’ve been very lucky. I did Fiddler on the Roof, Under Milk Wood, The Prince and the Pauper, you name it - I’ve done. I’m very lucky.”
I hadn’t realised that she was in Fiddler on the Roof. “I got that part out of 500 women! And that was in the 1960s. You won’t recognise me - I play the ghost in it.”
The first thing I notice whilst talking to the actress, who is probably most well known for playing Gladys Pugh in the wonderful 1980s hit sitcom, Hi- De-Hi!, is that her Welsh accent isn’t half as thick as I thought it would be. There’s a definite lilt but even so, it’s nothing like that of the iconic radio announcer’s voice from Maplins holiday camp; which used to inform holiday makers of various activities, mostly located in the Hawaiian Ballroom or the Olympic sized swimming pool.
Of course Ruth has a plethora of acting experience, not only in tv but theatre and film too.
“I like to be a bit of a maverick and do everything. I’ve been very lucky. I did Fiddler on the Roof, Under Milk Wood, The Prince and the Pauper, you name it - I’ve done. I’m very lucky.”
I hadn’t realised that she was in Fiddler on the Roof. “I got that part out of 500 women! And that was in the 1960s. You won’t recognise me - I play the ghost in it.”
Ruth, centre left, with the cast of Hi-de-Hi!
Ruth is currently playing Grandma Rosie in The Wedding Singer tour which is coming to Southend’s Cliffs Pavilion from the 15th to 19th August and I ask her if she watched the film version before taking on the role.
“Well yes, briefly” she replies, “I just saw bits of it and thought, oh, I don’t wanna do that!”
Not quite the answer I was expecting. She continues, “Well, she’s gaga in the film!” “When I read the script I realised it was a much bigger part, thank goodness, and what she’s got to do in it is very, very good.” She adds, “You’ll definitely know I’m on stage!”
So does she get to sing much in the show? She replies, “I’m not going to tell you what, or why, or how, or when I sing - but it is fun!”
“Grans always know best don’t they and she’s a typical one, this one.” she says about the role which was written by the same team who wrote the original film starring Adam Sandler. “She encourages him to go off with the girl he really loves because he gets jilted at the alter, just like he does in the film. It really is lovely. It’s a great musical. It’s a great piece of entertainment because the music is fab and it’s all original music. There’s no cynicism in it you see, you just take it for what it is. Everything will turn out fine in the end.”
I wonder if being in a show that is set in the eighties brings back any memories for Ruth of that time.
“Well indeed, I mean that’s when Hi-De-Hi! started. I’ve been around so long love, I can remember it all in great detail.”
Does she still keep in touch with any of her Hi-De-Hi! cast members?
“Believe it or not there’s not many of us left. There is only Su Pollard, Jeffrey Holland and a couple of the yellow coats and me - and that’s about it. Of the real big cast that was in it everyone’s passed away, sadly.” “We do ‘do’ a reunion but the last time there were only three of us there and our spouses, so we though oh ‘eck, we’ll just have dinner and keep in touch that way, you know” she adds with a wry chuckle.
The fans are never far from the stage door though and Ruth tells me that she’s always happy to chat to them. In fact, she tells me, some of the die hard fans she now knows on a first name basis. However, she’s not big on the social media aspect of fame that's quite prevalent these days, despite having been recently introduced to Twitter by fellow cast member Jon Robyns.
“Well yes, briefly” she replies, “I just saw bits of it and thought, oh, I don’t wanna do that!”
Not quite the answer I was expecting. She continues, “Well, she’s gaga in the film!” “When I read the script I realised it was a much bigger part, thank goodness, and what she’s got to do in it is very, very good.” She adds, “You’ll definitely know I’m on stage!”
So does she get to sing much in the show? She replies, “I’m not going to tell you what, or why, or how, or when I sing - but it is fun!”
“Grans always know best don’t they and she’s a typical one, this one.” she says about the role which was written by the same team who wrote the original film starring Adam Sandler. “She encourages him to go off with the girl he really loves because he gets jilted at the alter, just like he does in the film. It really is lovely. It’s a great musical. It’s a great piece of entertainment because the music is fab and it’s all original music. There’s no cynicism in it you see, you just take it for what it is. Everything will turn out fine in the end.”
I wonder if being in a show that is set in the eighties brings back any memories for Ruth of that time.
“Well indeed, I mean that’s when Hi-De-Hi! started. I’ve been around so long love, I can remember it all in great detail.”
Does she still keep in touch with any of her Hi-De-Hi! cast members?
“Believe it or not there’s not many of us left. There is only Su Pollard, Jeffrey Holland and a couple of the yellow coats and me - and that’s about it. Of the real big cast that was in it everyone’s passed away, sadly.” “We do ‘do’ a reunion but the last time there were only three of us there and our spouses, so we though oh ‘eck, we’ll just have dinner and keep in touch that way, you know” she adds with a wry chuckle.
The fans are never far from the stage door though and Ruth tells me that she’s always happy to chat to them. In fact, she tells me, some of the die hard fans she now knows on a first name basis. However, she’s not big on the social media aspect of fame that's quite prevalent these days, despite having been recently introduced to Twitter by fellow cast member Jon Robyns.
Ruth with Jon Robyns who plays Robbie, The Wedding Singer
“Oh, yes, he put me on that - I never use it!” she laughs. She goes on to say of Robyns, who plays the lead role of the Wedding Singer, Robbie.
“Oh he’s fab, absolutely fab. He’s great as the Wedding Singer, he really is and he’s marvellous with me; in fact they are all very good with me because I am literally old enough to be their grandmother!”
I suggest that with her wealth of acting experience, she must have a lot of stories to pass on to the young cast.
“Well I do, yes, they like to hear some of the stories. A lot of the productions I was in were the originals - the original West Side Story, the original Oliver, the original Man of La Mancha - and they go “the original?” They don’t realise that these shows have been around for God knows how long. I mean Oklahoma’s been around since 1949!”
For someone who has been performing since the 1950s, Ruth has certainly seen some changes in the theatre since performing in those original productions, especially from a technical viewpoint.
“We never had throat mics and the orchestras were not amplified. The only reason that you’ve got mics now is that the orchestras are so loud, so you’ve got to have amplification and even if you go to the Garden (Covent Garden) you will see pencil mics on the stage! That never ever was!” she tells me incredulously.
Ruth’s training has obviously stood her in good stead as she proudly informs me, “That’s why I’m still going at ONLY 74!”
And it doesn’t look like she’s going to be retiring any time soon either with film projects coming up with Tom Jones and Anthony Hopkins and a voiceover for a children’s comedy cartoon.
I tell her that we are looking forward to seeing her in Southend and she pauses for a moment before saying, “You know, I have to say, people have worked very hard in Southend [Theatres]. I’ve been coming there for must be at least 25 years now, since I’ve been properly touring, and I think that they’ve really done terribly well in Southend with the Cliffs Pavilion. Every time I go there, they’ve got so many enthusiastic helpers and it’s great, it really is.”
Once the nine month tour of The Wedding Singer is over Ruth tells me that she’ll be more than happy to head to Gibraltar, where her daughter and grandchildren live. With 5 grandchildren in all, and with ages ranging from 5 - 10 years old, being a grandma is clearly something Ruth adores.
“I’ll see them at Christmas when the tour finishes.”
In the meantime, we can catch her as Grandma Rosie in The Wedding Singer, in what I am sure is going to be, as Gladys Pugh would say, a ‘fablas’ performance.
Tickets are available online at www.southendtheatres.org.uk or call the box office on 01702 31135
Wedding Singer Tour website
Interview: Kim Tobin
“Oh he’s fab, absolutely fab. He’s great as the Wedding Singer, he really is and he’s marvellous with me; in fact they are all very good with me because I am literally old enough to be their grandmother!”
I suggest that with her wealth of acting experience, she must have a lot of stories to pass on to the young cast.
“Well I do, yes, they like to hear some of the stories. A lot of the productions I was in were the originals - the original West Side Story, the original Oliver, the original Man of La Mancha - and they go “the original?” They don’t realise that these shows have been around for God knows how long. I mean Oklahoma’s been around since 1949!”
For someone who has been performing since the 1950s, Ruth has certainly seen some changes in the theatre since performing in those original productions, especially from a technical viewpoint.
“We never had throat mics and the orchestras were not amplified. The only reason that you’ve got mics now is that the orchestras are so loud, so you’ve got to have amplification and even if you go to the Garden (Covent Garden) you will see pencil mics on the stage! That never ever was!” she tells me incredulously.
Ruth’s training has obviously stood her in good stead as she proudly informs me, “That’s why I’m still going at ONLY 74!”
And it doesn’t look like she’s going to be retiring any time soon either with film projects coming up with Tom Jones and Anthony Hopkins and a voiceover for a children’s comedy cartoon.
I tell her that we are looking forward to seeing her in Southend and she pauses for a moment before saying, “You know, I have to say, people have worked very hard in Southend [Theatres]. I’ve been coming there for must be at least 25 years now, since I’ve been properly touring, and I think that they’ve really done terribly well in Southend with the Cliffs Pavilion. Every time I go there, they’ve got so many enthusiastic helpers and it’s great, it really is.”
Once the nine month tour of The Wedding Singer is over Ruth tells me that she’ll be more than happy to head to Gibraltar, where her daughter and grandchildren live. With 5 grandchildren in all, and with ages ranging from 5 - 10 years old, being a grandma is clearly something Ruth adores.
“I’ll see them at Christmas when the tour finishes.”
In the meantime, we can catch her as Grandma Rosie in The Wedding Singer, in what I am sure is going to be, as Gladys Pugh would say, a ‘fablas’ performance.
Tickets are available online at www.southendtheatres.org.uk or call the box office on 01702 31135
Wedding Singer Tour website
Interview: Kim Tobin