Still Fully Charged - in Conversation with Su Pollard

Oh eck! It’s been 50 years... Su Pollard is coming to the Torch on Wednesday 13 November with her show ‘Su Pollard: Still Fully Charged’. Our roving reporter Anwen chatted with the tv star to see what her show is all about.

The Torch Theatre is very excited to have you here! Can you tell our audiences what your show is all about?

Well, do you know, we couldn’t cram it all in to be honest, because it’s basically 50 years of showbiz, trying to show the various things that I’ve done over the years, like your voiceovers for adverts etc, musicals, pantos, plays, a whole section – and selection – of TV stuff, and everything! There will be a few characters making appearances from things that I’ve done, obviously from Hi-de-Hi!, You Rang, M’Lord?, Oh, Doctor Beeching!, all sorts of early interviews, some of which I’d totally forgotten that I did! So, we’re hoping it’s a whole goody bag, it’s a bit like a pick ‘n’ mix at Woolworths, you put your hand in and hopefully you get some lovely candy coming out.

Where did the inspiration for your show come from?

The actual show itself is a knock-on from a tour I did before, which was called ‘Su Pollard: Oh… And Another Thing!’, and it was talking about what was happening in the lockdown etc, and I thought I quite like the idea of doing a one person show. I’ve done one before about 40 years ago. I think I followed Quentin Crisp at the Donmar Warehouse, but I quite liked that and so I thought to myself, perhaps we ought to have a bit of a celebration really, why not, I mean 50 years of working seems to be a good idea to pin a show on, so that’s basically how it started. And I got the title from, actually, fully charged, you know when you charge your phone up and it goes ‘Fully charged’, and I thought ‘Yes, that’s it, that’ll be the title’, so that’s where we are!

Describe your show in three words ….

Celebration, memories, surprises

What about your tour – where will you be visiting?

We’re all over the country, I could list the tour but that would be boring! Most of the places in the autumn I’ve been before and I really like and, after the panto in Darlington, we’ve got even more dates next year. The best place to find all the dates is the website, www.supollardlive.com - so just go there.

Have you visited the Torch Theatre here in Pembrokeshire before and what are your hopes?

No, I’ve never visited it before, it will be a first but I’m really looking forward to it. I’m hoping it’s a beautiful theatre for this type of show, it’s an intimate kind of show so it’s lovely to have an intimate auditorium, with an enthusiastic audience and to have great staff members who make you feel very welcome, so that’s all you can wish for really.

What have you been up to since your Hi-de-Hi days?

Oh my goodness me, what have I been up to… you’ll have to come and see the show! I’ve been doing all sorts of stuff, I’ve been very fortunate to do a lot of TV and musicals, and quiz shows recently, like Would I Lie To You? which is all fabulous, and I’ve just been doing the similar sort of things to what I’ve always done, but equally, I find that you tend to get a little bit more discerning. If I don’t like the script, or I feel I don’t like the concept, or I won’t do it justice, I’ll go ‘No, no, no, I think I’ll pass’. I just like to do good work that will be remembered with affection – rather like Hi-de-Hi! to be honest.

Do you prefer live theatre or television? And why?

Oh well there’s no contest, it’s got to be live theatre, and I’ll tell you why, the reaction is immediate. I know with television, they film it hopefully with a live audience so you do indeed get a reaction but sometimes they say ‘We’re not happy with that take,’ (not necessarily the actors but the producers), ‘can we go for another take please?’ so therefore you have the luxury of making it better than it was the first time, you don’t get that at all with a theatre show but, although theatre’s live, and you can sometimes get the mistakes, the audience might not know, you all know but you just have to carry on, but I just like the immediacy of it. You do something in TV, the audience might not get to see it for six months, by which time you’ve probably forgotten you did it, so I do believe that, when you’re doing it there and then, that’s when you create the magic.

Who will enjoy your show?

Who will enjoy my show? Oh well hopefully anybody who likes to laugh, likes to look back, likes to think ‘Oh I remember that, that was fabulous’, anybody that’s curious, young and old. Probably don’t bring anybody under two, that may not be a good suggestion, but anybody from 12 onwards would absolutely love it. Hopefully there’s something for everybody darling!