Ruth Madoc speaks ahead of Wedding Singer appearance at Wolverhampton Grand
She’s as breathless as a 21-year-old featuring in her first production.
Yet Ruth Madoc is one of the most seasoned performers in theatre – a star who played alongside Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor and Peter O’Toole before becoming a household name through TV’s Hi-de-Hi!
She’s back on the road in a new production of The Wedding Singer, which features at Wolverhampton’s Grand Theatre from Tuesday until October 7.
It’s 1985. Hair is huge, greed is good and rock-star wannabe Robbie Hart is New Jersey’s favourite wedding singer. When his own fiancée dumps him at the altar a seriously bummed out Robbie makes every wedding as disastrous as his own. The hilarious effects play out in The Wedding Singer.
Ruth loves the show: “It’s fantastic. It’s a really good high-octane piece. There’s no cynicism. It’s absolutely lovely. The audience can sit down and enjoy the beat as well as enjoying the love story. It’s very simple but very well done.”
The Wedding Singer stars Jon Robyns, best known for Avenue Q, Legally Blonde.
Sweet-natured Julia, (Cassie Compton: X Factor) and her best friend Holly try to lure Robbie out of the dumpster and back into the limelight?
But if he doesn’t act quickly, she might head off down the aisle with Wall Street bad boy Glenn (Ray Quinn: X Factor, Dancing On Ice)? However, Grandma Rosie (Ruth) seems to be able to see that Robbie and Julia are the couple that are meant to be.
Ruth adds: “It’s a blast. We started it in February and are slowly coming towards the end. We played Shrewsbury earlier this month and I enjoyed that because I’d never played it. Then we’ve got the Grand, in Wolverhampton, which I’ve played many times. I’ve done all sorts of different things. You name it I’ve done it. I did Under Milkwood when the theatre was privately owned. The lady that owned it owned the Phoenix in London and a theatre in Morecombe. That was 1965/66. I’m really looking forward to it. It’s like a spiritual home.”
Ruth hits the road with her husband at the start of a production and doesn’t look back.
“It’s a bit like being a gypsy. We put everything in the back of the Santa Fe and just keep going. We’re well into our 70s and my husband and I are like two old kippers in a box.”
She enjoys lining up with new stars who are gradually carving out a career. “I’m literally old enough to be their grandmother. But the cast are very good, they never leave me out just because I’m older. If they’re going out socially they always include us. I think that’s what I like about this show. And the production itself is brilliant. The dancing is just marvellous and the choreography is amazing. I still get an enormous thrill from just looking at the side of the stage and watching it.”
Ruth has a remarkable CV. And she’s continually re-remembering things that she’s done in the past. “Funny enough one of the guys said to me in the cast last night, what did I love? He’d recorded something on Film Four. It was a film I did with Jonathan Pryce and I’d forgotten I’d done it. It became a cult that. That was amazing. There’s been other stuff over the years, like the film of Fiddler and the film of Under Milkwood with Richard Burton, which was amazing. I was in the original.”
She still purrs affectionately when she remembers working with the great Richard Burton.
“He was fabulous. He was absolutely super to work with. He didn’t keep himself to himself, he mixed with the rest of us. There were all sorts in that: Tim Healy, Liz Taylor and Peter O’Toole.”
TV, film and theatre have been the mainstays of her career – and she’s loved them all. “I have enjoyed TV and stage equally. I love the stage but I love TV and film too. I like it all. I’m greedy.”
And yet she’s invariably linked with her portrayal of Gladys Pugh, in Hi-de-Hi. It’s a role that has never left her – and she’s grateful for that. A more recent role, in Little Britain, has also followed her around.
“I’ll never get rid of Gladys but I loved playing her. As for Little Britain, well, that was offered to me but when I saw the script, my husband said ‘no, it’s rude’.
“So I sent it my son and he read it and he asked if I’d ever seen it. He told me I’d get street cred for doing it, so I went for it and here we are.”
