I’ll be happy if I never do a Zoom call again
FROM CORRIE COBBLES TO COLLYWOBBLES ...WENDI PETERS TELLS MARION MCMULLEN THINGS ARE ABOUT TO GET SPOOKY
Are you likely to spook some theatre ghosts with the new tour of The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow?
(Laughs) We might well do. There are supposed to be a lot of them about, but I don’t really believe in all that. This is a good play to welcome audiences back to the theatre though. It’s something a bit different from watching a big happy, clappy musical.
I actually love musicals, but this is quite spooky and we have a team of technical experts involved as well to help with the illusions. You never know, the headless horseman himself might possibly make an appearance.
Who do you play?
I play the Widow – the oldest person in the play – yes, I’ve got to that point now. I’m not just the mother in the company, I’m the grandmother. My character has seen it all and done it all and she’s slightly mad. She wants to know everything that is going on and takes Ichabod Crane under her wing when he arrives.
What’ is it like to be working with your former Coronation Street co-star Bill Ward again?
We were in Corrie together and he was around almost the same time period I was. He started a month after me and he left about a month before me. Having said that our characters never really crossed paths much. He played a bit of a villain, Charlie Stubbs, whereas my character Cilla was more of a panto villain.
Bill is such a nice guy and it’s lovely to reconnect with him for this tour. There are only six of us in the company and we play multiple parts. At one point all the guys play the ladies of the village.
What were you doing before the first lockdown hit?
I was on tour with the John Cleese farce Bang Bang! It was about three weeks into the tour and we were doing a Saturday night performance in Windsor. There was a scheduled one week break after that and on the Monday I had planned to go on holiday to New York, but quickly realised that was not going to happen and in the middle of the week I got a call saying the tour was going to shut down.
It was such a shame. We were having a lovely time on tour and we kept hoping it would restart, but then realised it was never going to happen. I’ve kept busy with my home recording studio. (Laughs) That sounds very grand – it is the cupboard. I do a lot of voiceover work and I put all my sound equipment in there. I can be watching an advert now and think ‘Blimey, I did the voice for that in my cupboard’.
How else have you kept busy during all this?
I do a lot of touring and we realised during all this that we didn’t have to be near London so we’ve just moved to the countryside.
There are fields and horses outside the window and I can take my five dogs out on lovely country walks. It’s lovely.
I’ve always baked and normally I bake cakes and brownies for the acting company, but I turned to more savoury things during lockdown, although I recently baked a four-tier wedding cake for a friend that I was very proud of.
I’ve been reading and we’ve also been watching box sets like Schitt’s Creek, The Handmaid’s Tale and 1970s comedies from our youth.
Our daughter Gracie is 21 and graduated from the Musical Theatre Academy (MTA) during all this. Normally you’d be looking to get an agent and going to auditions and that was not possible. Luckily she has now got an agent and she did a live Halloween horror play for three nights on
Zoom.
Your career has spanned television, theatre and radio. What have been some of your favourite stage moments?
I loved played Big in the West End. It was joyous and a lovely company. I did White Christmas for three years and there was something so magical about performing on Christmas Eve with real snow falling down on the stage.
Early in my career I did Sondheim and loved that and I also did a tour of Salad Days, which was great fun. I’ve worked with Northern Broadsides and Hull Truck theatre company and did Hatched ‘n’ Dispatched at the Park Theatre.
It was a very small theatre that only sat 90 and we all shared the same dressing room with just a curtain down the middle. It’s been a real magical mix of roles.
What’s next after the tour?
I’ll be doing panto at the De Montfort in Leicester. It was supposed to open last year, but is finally happening now. I’ve been playing the goodie in panto for the last few years, but I’m back to being bad in Sleeping Beauty playing the Wicked Fairy.
I’m going to be staying with a friend who I did my first show with back in 1988 so I’m really looking forward to a catch up with her in person. (Laughs). Honestly, I’ll be very happy if I never do another Zoom call again.
My character has seen it all and done it all and she’s slightly mad
The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow tours the UK from September 30. Go to tiltedwigproductions.com for tour dates.