Maggie Thatcher tap dancing on stage gets a big reaction
EastEnders star Shane Richie is following in some pretty big footsteps as he plays Archie Rice in a new take on The Entertainer. MARION McMULLEN finds out about tap dancing and mother-in-law jokes
Fading comedian Archie Rice in The Entertainer has been played by Laurence Olivier, Michael Gambon, Robert Lindsay and Kenneth Branagh over the years. What appealed to you about the role?
IT’S something I and director Sean O’Connor had been talking about for 12 years. We did Minder and also worked on EastEnders several times and I remember him mentioning The Entertainer then.
Eighteen months ago he mentioned it again and talked about setting the play in the 1980s instead of the 1950s and suddenly it all made sense to me.
My idea of Archie Rice was instantly different and I felt I could put my own stamp on it. My dad used to run clubs in London and I know the kind of world Archie was from. I think writer John Osbourne would have approved.
Did your tap-dancing Margaret Thatcher make an impact?
(LAUGHS) There’s a big audience reaction to Margaret Thatcher tap dancing on to the Noel Coward song There Are Bad Times Just Around the Corner.
I think I said I wanted to do it initially as a joke and I still can’t quite believe I do it. I don’t think I’ve tap danced on stage in 25 years. I’d like to say it’s like riding a bike and you don’t forget, but I really had to put the time in and my ankles have seized up.
I’m not doing a Sammy Davis Jr number though – just a few little high kicks. I kind of underestimated how physical the part was, well, we made it physical with a lot of jumping about and dancing, by the time we get to the end of the tour
I’ll probably have lost a stone... (chuckles) which is no bad thing.
How do audiences react to 1980s style jokes?
THE reaction is very different. I find it really intriguing. To some it’s like ‘I remember that’ and they remember the jokes as being funny and then there’s almost embarrassed laughter from other people.
The setting is 1982 when comedy is changing, but Archie is still doing fat mother-in-law jokes.
My research was looking at old TV shows like The Comedians, traces of Bruce Forsyth, bits of Bernard Manning, Billy Dainty and Max Wall. I tried to tick as many boxes as possible. Archie will do anything for a laugh, but as the play progresses you see he is dead behind the eyes and it comes to the point when he is just taking the money.
You’re now 55 and known to many as EastEnders’ Alfie Moon.
What were you doing back in the 1980s?
I WAS a young comic and I did the old summer season tours with people like Little and Large, Cannon and Ball and
Jimmy Cricket. I could see how my comedy was clashing with theirs and there were new alternative comedy clubs in London, but they didn’t really pay that much and I needed to survive.
Are you also looking forward to returning to the role of Loco Chanelle next year for the tour of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie?
(LAUGHS) I’ll be putting on the high heels again. I never expected a phone call asking ‘Do you want to play a Sheffield drag queen?’
It’s so far removed from The Entertainer but again I’m playing a character who excites me and Everybody’s Talking About Jamie was different from anything I’d ever done before. The fun is going to continue next year and it’s just a wonderful celebratory thing. We get 12 and 13 year-olds coming along and the show is really uplifting.
Any other stage roles on
your wish list?
WELL, there are a couple of things on Broadway at the moment that I would love a look at, but I’m not going to name them.
I think Shylock in The Merchant Of Venice would be good to do when I’m older as well and I like roles that stretch me.
There’s talk of some television as well next year, but I can’t say anything about it all just yet in case it doesn’t happen.
What do you always pack when you’re on tour?
MY iPad has to come everywhere with me. I love my music and I have portable speakers as well. I’ve also got a couple of books I want to try and catch up with. There’s a lot of down time when you are on tour, but I get home when I can and do the school run.
And do you have any pre-show superstitions?
I’D say no, but then I find myself putting on my jewellery to play Archie in a certain order – watch, bracelet, rings and necklace.