Olivier was amazing, but I never felt I could tell him a dirty joke
Benidorm comedy favourite Sheila Reid is going from Spain to Shakespeare. MARION McMULLEN finds out why she describes her latest character as a human cockroach
You played acid-tongued OAP Madge in ITV comedy Benidorm for nearly 10 years. Was it emotional saying farewell to the ITV comedy? IT WAS sad saying goodbye to my Benidorm family, but I haven’t really said goodbye because we still keep in touch. We ring each other with our news and catch up on everything.
(Laughs) Benidorm was fun to do and it might possibly have something to do with being here at the Royal Shakespeare Company again. I think director Gregory Doran might have seen an episode of Benidorm. What’s it like playing Thersites in Troilus And Cressida? I LOVE doing comedy and the best drama mixes both, like Troilus And Cressida. It’s such an exciting play. It’s a thrilling story and it has it all – romance, action, a wonderful love story, passion and action.
Thersites is heavenly to play. Some actors like to think of animals when they approach a character and I do that a bit.
I think she’s definitely a cockroach with a carapace shell and her eyes on stalks. She sees everything and scuttles around storing it all away. She’s got nothing and has to live by her wits and needs to know who to be nice to and who to ignore.
I’m loving it. What was it like working with Laurence Oliver at the National Theatre early in your career? I WAS in rep doing a different play every week and that was quite a challenge. You then graduated to do a play every fortnight and then every three weeks and that was nirvana.
I was very lucky to go to the National Theatre quite early in my career and did some Shakespeare – Othello with Sir Laurence Olivier, which was a thrill, and Love Labour’s Lost.
Olivier was amazing really, absolutely inspiring and a wonderful leader. He was apart, but he also wanted to be one of the boys and on occasion he would be, but he was also a figure of awe. (Chuckles) I never felt I could go up and poke him in the ribs and tell him a dirty joke, but he probably would have loved that.
He would work on a character like layers of a cake. He would get one layer right and then add another on top of that and he physically seemed to change his shape with the part he was playing. Do you enjoy switching between comedy and drama? (LAUGHS) My husband always says I stand at the window just sighing and looking out when I’m doing a serious drama and he goes ‘Oh, you’re doing one of those plays.’
It’s such a thrill to be back in Stratford-upon-Avon and Gregory is very special, extraordinary really. He really is the right person to lead the company because he has such a complete understanding, patience and warmth about Shakespeare.
What is going on inside his head is mindboggling.
The whole cast is extraordinary. I just sit there in awe and I’m looking forward to doing the live cinema broadcast. It’s something
I’ve never done before.
Percussionist Eveyln Glennie is also doing the music and has created, invented and designed an extraordinary array of instruments which are going to be used in the play. One was inspired by tractor spokes she came across when she was at a farm. You also appeared in TV comedy special Murder On The Blackpool Express with the likes of Johnny Vegas, Una Stubbs and Griff Rhys Jones, What was it like working on that? IT WAS great fun. I played a very different character, Mildred, who was doing her best on this coach trip as all these murders began. In fact, we’ve just finished work on another – Death On The Tyne.
I’m also doing All About Eve on the London stage next year with Gillian Anderson and Lily James. It seems absolutely wonderful. I’ve worked with Ingmar Bergman in the past and the director of All About Eve, Ivo van Hove, reminded me of him. (LAUGHS) I feel I will fall down in a heap quite soon, but I’m aiming not to do that until the middle of next year when everything is finished. I might have a break then. Keeping up with young actors and all their wonderful energy keeps me fit. We were slobs when we started. We didn’t go to the gym or go running it was ‘let’s go to the pub.’
The cast of Troilus And Cressida could be Mr Muscles. You really have to be on the ball doing Shakespeare and they want to do it right.
I have my yoga routine in the morning and have a stretch on my yoga mat. It works for me.
■ Troilus And Cressida will be broadcast live to cinemas nationwide on November 14. The production can be seen at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-uponAvon until November 17. Go to rsc.org.uk for details.