Patricia Hodge has brought the immortal Mrs Malaprop to Richmond. Jane McGowan has a word...
Patricia Hodge is having what people now term ‘a full circle moment’. Starring as Mrs Malaprop at the Orange Tree Theatre in Sheridan’s classic comedy, The Rivals, has stirred up a raft of Richmond memories for the veteran actress, who spent her student years in nearby Isleworth.
“I actually trained to be a teacher, as my mother wanted me to have a proper job to fall back on,” recalls the 79-year-old resident of Barnes. “So I studied education at a college based in a grand old house on the banks of the river.
“I was there for three years and at the weekend my friends and I would walk along the towpath into Richmond. It is always nice to come back and go a bit misty-eyed and remember my 18-year-old self.”
Ellie Kurttz
What is hard to believe is that the Olivier Award-winning actor and star of such shows as Rumpole of the Bailey, Jemima Shore Investigates, Miranda and All Creatures Great and Small should have required a Plan B.
“I came to acting through dance,” she reveals. “My first engagement with anything theatrical was through ballet – that was what I really wanted to do. My mother made me earn my stripes at school before she would pay for ballet lessons, so I think I was about nine when I started.”
Although her mother had herself performed as a child, Patricia’s parents, who were in the hotel business, were concerned about their daughter’s future financial stability.
“It wasn’t that they weren’t supportive. It was more safeguarding – I don’t think my parents thought that anyone could earn any money out of a theatrical pursuit,” she says.
But at 14, Patricia, now an accomplished dancer, faced a dilemma: whether to follow her ballerina dreams or stay at the family home in Lincolnshire.
“I had reached the stage where to pursue dance more professionally would have meant going to a residential school. But luckily it was also at that point that I discovered drama and got into school plays. Acting became my passion: from then on, it was all I ever wanted to do.”
Not that progress was swift. With a sceptical family and no professional theatre company within miles, Patricia bided her time. Only after she won a place at the prestigious London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) did her parents, Eric and Marion, finally come round. By now, she was in her early 20s, had completed her three-year teacher training course and was working in a school.
“That was sort of a validation for them – I think secretly they were excited, but they were just very protective. It was an unknown quantity, but once I was at drama school, they were fully on board. I had done what they thought was best and got myself a qualification, but I already knew that for me there was no going back.”
Alisa Connan
Making her West End debut in 1972, at the age of 26 – in the Ben Travers farce Rookery Nook – Patricia then starred in an acclaimed production of the musical Pippin, directed by the legendary Broadway and Hollywood choreographer Bob Fosse. Screen success followed with roles in celebrated TV series The Naked Civil Servant, Hotel du Lac and The Life and Loves of a She-Devil.
And so the blend of stage and screen continued. Then, in 2007, Patricia was introduced to a certain character who would enable her to engage with a whole new audience. Not only that, but the character’s trademark utterance, ‘Such fun!’ would quickly become part of the national parlance.
The role of super-posh and super-pushy mum Penny was first touted as a recurring character in the then radio series, Miranda Hart’s Joke Shop. With three weeks to go before a substantial theatre engagement, Patricia signed on. It looked like “a bit of fun”, she thought, before the serious business of a long live run.
“But as we started, I could see that this was something really special. You could just tell from how the audience reacted. For probably the only time in my life, I actually said to the writer, Miranda herself: ‘Look, if you are going to do this on television, I will happily queue up and audition for it.’
“At that point, I really didn’t know whether people thought of me as a comedy actress. I have tried to set myself the challenge of turning corners in my career, and I’ve done a lot of situation comedy over the years. But it was just, I suppose, that more serious parts kept coming up.”
BBC Pictures
She needn’t have worried. The first series of Miranda, shown on BBC2, was an undoubted success, with one critic writing of Patricia’s “brilliant, brilliant performance”. By 2012, the show had graduated to BBC1, where its popularity grew: the Boxing Day special garnered an audience of 11.5 million.
“It’s knockabout humour that crosses generations,” reflects Patricia. “Parents and even grandparents see it as something reminiscent of comedies from years ago and are happy for their children to watch it too.
“It was very special and good fun to do. The core group – Miranda Hart, Sarah Hadland and Tom Ellis – were wonderful. I just loved being with them. But you know, comedy is a very serious business. It’s tricky, especially in front of a live audience, when you are trying not to play to them because there are cameras too. You have two different things to master. It is like rubbing your tummy and patting your head at the same time.”
Patricia’s policy of pivoting from role to role continues. This winter, she not only appears at the Orange Tree, but also on the small screen as Mrs Pumphrey, owner of pampered pooch Tricki Woo in the Channel 5 hit reboot of All Creatures Great and Small – a role she took over from the late Diana Rigg in 2021.
Sheridan’s The Rivals
In between filming commitments in the Yorkshire Dales, however, Patricia is more than happy to be back on the boards in her old stomping ground.
“Richmond is so lucky – having two very important theatres so close to the West End is extraordinary. Both the Orange Tree and Richmond Theatre manage to thrive – and so they should. They offer such different things, but they are terrific companions.
“And I just love being here. I enjoy the town immensely, and any walk which takes you along the river is worth doing. The view from the top of Richmond Hill is breathtaking, too.”
And while she may be known, to younger audiences at least, primarily as a TV star, it is on the stage that Patricia remains happiest.
“I would always come back to the fact that theatre is the craft. If you can do theatre, you can do everything. It’s a learning ground; a never-ending quest for a perfection you’ll never reach.”
Sheridan’s The Rivals, starring Patricia Hodge and Robert Bathurst, is at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond until Jan 24. For tickets and details visit: orangetreetheatre.co.uk.
