Comedy queen Su Pollard and comedy duo Cannon and Ball are teaming up for an all-out side splitting romp, Ha Ha Hood! and the Prince of Leaves, the latest laugh-out-loud production from the Ha Ha! team whose previous productions, Ha Ha Holmes!, Ha Ha Hitler! and Ha Ha Hamlet! have had audiences rolling in the aisles.
During a break in rehearsals I spoke to Su to ask her about life on the road, making people laugh and her forty years at the top of the showbusiness ladder…
So, you’re heading out on the road again?
Yes, it’s amazing. Shirley Maclaine always calls herself a gypsy and I think I’ve always been a bit of a gypsy too really. I quite like being on the road, it’s something that sort of goes with the territory. If you’re not doing a TV series or you’re not working in the West End you tend to be “on the road” and with this show it’s great because, if you don’t like a place, you’re only there for one day and then you move on.
That life must be exhausting though.
Oh, it can be, definitely. The thing is, once you get used to it, you kind of get into your own routine and you get to know the sort of stamina that you need and you work out how to pace yourself. Of course, the great thing about a big tour like this is that you can go and see your mates all round the country. I have a few friends who have left London and now live in Eastbourne and Tunbridge Wells and I’m really looking forward to seeing them and catching up.
When you’re on a big tour like this, does the company become like your family?
Absolutely! You probably won’t be surprised to learn that, when you’re rehearsing, you normally start off by going to the pub for like a “bonding” session and you end up telling each other loads of things that probably haven’t even told your real family. You get to know all sorts of different things about each other and you soon work out that you need each other for company just as much as fellow artists.
And you’re working with the legendary Cannon and Ball on this show.
You know, it’s amazing, but we’ve never really worked together before. We did a summer special, years and years ago, one of those TV things but, nothing other than that and, you know, I really respect their work. They have stood the test of time and they are a really good double act and the material in the script is really going to fit them like a glove. It’s hilarious, it’s visually satisfying with a lot of slapstick and a great, witty, story and I don’t think you could get anyone better for the show really.
You’re playing Maid Marion aren’t you?
Oh yes darling I am, bless her. It’s a bit sad because, unfortunately, Marion and Robin Hood have divorced. Robin was upset because she was a bit too feisty and too much of a feminist, but they meet up again because the Sheriff of Nottingham, who has been in prison for 10 years, gets released and he has revenge on his mind. He wants to kill Robin and all his merry men and then marry Marion.
Is it a proper family show or maybe a bit “near the knuckle”?
Let me put it this way, I think we’re talking about a family show with, maybe, pantomime style innuendo so all ages would love it. The kids will know it’s funny in parts, but maybe they won’t know exactly why the grown ups are laughing so much –
You know what I mean. There are a couple of moments when the audience are encouraged to join in, but not in a way to make them uncomfortable, much more in a pantomime sort of way.
Is it a bit like a cross between stand-up comedy and pantomime then?
Yes, I would definitely say that. Ben Langley, the writer, has a bit of a kind of monologue with stand up jokes in it at the beginning of Act Two. It’s very pacy because everything he does is very quick. He get’s the gag across and he gets the physical part over but he doesn’t linger on it.
It’s a huge tour that you’re going out on isn’t it?
Well, you see, the Ha Ha! series has quite a cult following now, especially since Joe Pasquale did Ha Ha Holmes!, and I think that the idea is to just to go to as many venues as we can, hopefully selling out, but just do one night in each place and then move on so, it’s a bit like I said earlier, we’ve just got to pace ourselves.
And then, straight after this tour you’re off up to Sunderland for this year’s panto.
Well yes, I can’t believe it, but I like that because I do enjoy my work. I wouldn’t say that I’m a workaholic, I like to use the expression, work enthusiast, because I so enjoy it. It’s really great to go on from one show straight into another, different, show but the thing with this time is, because Ha Ha Hood! is so “pantomimic”, I’ll be going into a very similar mode of theatre.
I’m sorry to bring it up, but isn’t this your 40th year in the business?
No, not at all, don’t be sorry. I’m absolutely delighted and I can’t believe it. I think it’s marvellous to still be working, and still be asked to work, and I’m very proud that I’ve had 40 years in the “biz”. I think my personality, if you like, lends itself to a certain type of work more than the serious stuff but I would never say no to the more serious stuff.
I have played the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet and, obviously, that could be seen as a comedic role, but there are also some lovely moments that she has that make her quite gentle and vulnerable. My main thing is that the work has to be good. I try to avoid doing something that I know I don’t believe in because, with that, you can’t really bring it to life in the correct way.
You have to “live it and love it”
Oh yes, I absolutely agree. Then the audience can see that and, when they see that you are enjoying yourself, it comes across. I think I’ve been very lucky in that I’ve enjoyed everything that I’ve done and my great joy at the moment is that the show that I’m best known for, Hi De Hi, is being repeated again on TV. It’s going to be on BBC1 right after the one o’clock news every weekday.
I’m really thrilled because it means that an old favourite of mine is coming back and, hopefully, it will get a new, younger, audience of people who have never seen it before. Fingers crossed it will be well received.
One final thing, I’d like to take you back the full 40 years to your appearance on Opportunity Knocks when you came in second place.
Yes, I came second to Harold Gumm and his singing dog, Jack. I can’t bear to think about it! It was totally hilarious, fancy being beaten by a singing dog but, you know what, there’s a story that goes with that.
You know Simon Mayo used to have a radio show when people called up to confess to something naughty that they had done, well this chap called up – he was a headmaster of a school – and he wanted to confess that he asked all 1000 of his pupils to vote for the singing dog and 30 years later he was so overcome with guilt that he called up and said it all on air and, you know what, the dog won by about 1000 votes but, I forgive him, because I’m still here and the dog isn’t.
Ha Ha Hood! starts its tour in Chelmsford on August 19th and comes to the area to appear at the Congress Theatre, Eastbourne on Monday 8th September, The Hawth, Crawley on Sunday 14th September, the White Rock Theatre, Hastings on Wednesday 17th September, the Assembly Hall Theatre, Tunbridge Wells on Saturday 20th September and the Theatre Royal Brighton on Monday 6th October with full details of other tour dates and ticket availability at www.hahahood.com
