A galaxy of stars from stage and television visited Lincoln’s Theatre Royal for the comedy drama, Five Blue Haired Ladies Sitting on a Green Park Bench.
The hilarious – and moving – story by John A Penzotti, concentrates on five wonderful women and is guaranteed to make you laugh ... and cry.
One of its big stars, popular actress Lorraine Chase, says she loves Lincoln and its theatre and is looking forward to her visit along with household names Shirley Anne Field, Anita Harris, Anne Charleston, Christopher Beeny, Frazer Hines and Tom Owen.
She said: “When the Campari adverts took off years ago I’d already been booked to do panto and had to come out of the West End and come to the little Lincoln Theatre, much to the chagrin of my co-star Kenneth Williams, who chastised me!
“That was for Chris Moreno, who ran the Lincoln theatre 33 years ago. I love that theatre and Chris too, who is one of the reasons this cast came together.
“One or two of the ladies had done the play before, and we have some lovely men including Chris Beeny and Fraser Hines, who’s also local to Lincoln.”
Lorraine has enjoyed 32 years in the business, with roles ranging from Dolly Clothespeg in Worzel Gummidge, to working with Roland Rat, having her own TV comedy series The Other Arf and later being a star of Lame Ducks, with John Duttine.
Her TV work in between a prolific stage career includes roles in Casualty, The Bill, Lock Stock and My Family.
More recently she had a prominent role in Emmerdale, playing the unpredictable Stephanie Stokes for six months. She ended up staying for four and a half years, leaving the soap in 2006.
“It’s a different form of acting,” she says.
“When you’re in a soap you can’t get into detail. You get your lines, learn them the night before, then you go in the next day and play it.
“I was just a working actor in a soap. I left because I didn’t want to become too entrenched. If you stay there 25 years, it’s retirement. You don’t have time to do other things. You don’t even have time for panto!”
She said actors have to strike a balance between regular money and living in one place with keeping fresh and moving forward.
“I lived in Yorkshire for four years and the people there were lovely, but my mum and dad – who aren’t getting any younger – and my friends live in London,” she revealed.
You may remember that working as a successful model, The Londoner came to fame in the acclaimed Campari TV commercials when her catchphrases “Nice Ere Innit” and “No, Luton Airport” became nationally quoted moving her on to celebrity status and her highly successful acting career.
But she says: “There’s some confusion now between celebrities and working actors. Once you get into acting you go into TV shows to tell people what you’re about to do.
“Now they make celebrity out of personal lives. If you’re a working actor in rep you’re not on television selling it because you’re at the theatre.”
Her new role in Five Blue Haired Ladies is “a nice little character”, contributing to the pathos and the laughs of the show, which focuses on the sixty-somethings’ well-lived lives and fears for the future.
“I think my days of glamorous dolly bird roles are over,” confides Lorraine, who qualifies for her bus pass later this year. “You have to go with your age, sadly – I’d be able to get into the clothes but it wouldn’t be a good look!”
