‘It’s difficult to quantify it, really it’s thumbnail shots of people’s lives, very, very funny but with pathos that makes it stick in your mind as a bit more than that. It’s entertainment that works!’
Actress, comedienne, singer, dancer, panto star and TV legend Lesley Joseph is talking about her latest theatre show, Hot Flush! It is, as you might guess from the giveaway title, a show featuring the ups and downs of a certain time of life and how it affects four very different women and a far from token man.
You might, at this point, be getting a vague feeling of dj vu about this, but no, you’re not having a senior moment. The show played at the Caird Hall for one night only last year, to a packed house but so popular did it prove at venues up and down the country, that it’s currently on its second major tour and will be back in Dundee for a three-performance run next week.
I know this, not just because I have done my research like a good little journalist but also because I and three ladies of a certain age (my age!) were there and we laughed ourselves silly, enjoying what was a hugely entertaining and brilliantly-performed show. Even the men in the audience (and there were a few brave male souls, one or two even daring to sit quite near the front) had a rollicking good time.
Lesley plays Myra, a high-flying barrister going through the throes of the dreaded “change”, who is also dealing with the discovery that her husband of long standing is having an affair at the office. Cue many riotous and risqu routines but, as she explained, there’s a very human story in there, too.
“The part was sort of written for me but when it first came to me I was really busy and not around to do it. I didn’t visit it again for about two years, but when I did, it made me laugh so much that I knew it was something I had to do as soon as I could.
“The thing about it was apart from the fact that it was really funny that there was room to put my personal stamp on it. It wasn’t set in stone and rigidly put together. I’ve actually known the producer for about 40 years and we agreed that I could rejig elements to include my humour and sense of pathos about what was happening to this woman.
“It’s part stand-up, part entertainment, part musical I love the songs and it’s a real team show, very communal. The chemistry on-stage carries through off-stage which is a joy and the energy level is very high. We did 10 weeks on the road the first time and we’re doing 14 this time but we’re sticking to one show a day which is frankly all I’d want to do.
“Touring is a tiring thing, there’s no doubt. But you get to go to a lot of gorgeous places you would never experience if you weren’t working. And it’s wonderful to look out there, seeing literally hundreds of people screaming with laughter and letting their hair down.”
Scotland has played a major role in her career her first show was the musical The Boyfriend in Edinburgh and she has toured here often. But, of course, she’s a hugely popular television face because of her phenomenally successful comic creation, Dorien Green, the suburban neighbour of Sharon and Tracey in the BBC’s Birds of a Feather.
“When you’ve been on telly people do feel they know you. But this show has really cheered a lot of people up it seems to lift them out of the doldrums. Life is very tough at the moment and this is something they can identify with and really have a good laugh at. People do come up and tell you what they think, what they liked and so on.”
In spite of her telly fame, however, theatre is and always has been in her blood.
I’m also very lucky that from childhood I had a real passion to follow. I have very strong views these days about young people being shoved into going to university as a kind of panacea that will solve everything for them. I don’t think that suits everyone and many would be better going into apprenticeships or other kinds of training than trying to go somewhere that won’t do it for them.
“I learned a trade, I suppose, which is what acting is. I’ve never done it just for the money, I’ve always found interesting things or they’ve happened along for me but I did have the advantage of always knowing what I wanted to do. And I’m still doing it, even at a Hot Flush! kind of age!”Hot Flush! is at Dundee Rep from April 15-17 at 7.30pm and then moves to Adam Smith Theatre, Kirkcaldy, April 19-21 and Alhambra Theatre, Dunfermline, on April 23.