PRUNELLA Scales is one of this country's best-loved actresses, renowned for playing formidable women including Queen Victoria.
She is now back in the monarch's shoes for a show which comes to Mold next week and GILL ISTED spoke to her about the role.
GARDEN centres, supermarkets, a child's nursery, a dressing room during the final moments before a play opens - these are all situations I have come across while interviewing actors.
But never before have I spoken to someone sitting at the side of her husband's hospital bed.
Until now, that is, and the doubtful accolade of being a first in that category goes to that classic British star of stage and screen, Prunella Scales, who has been married for over four decades to the equally renowned Timothy West.
'Tim slipped on wet grass on the tow path near our narrowboat and broke his leg and he had to have a pin in it and now he's on crutches,' she explains.
'Fortunately, it hasn't interrupted any of his work,' added Prunella who, aged almost 73, is preparing to visit Clwyd Theatr Cymru from Thursday, June 2, to Saturday, June 4, to perform An Evening With Queen Victoria, described as 'a portrait in her own words'.
'It's a lovely piece, I've been doing it for over 25 years and it's still in demand, which is great,' she says.
'It's the story of Victoria's life in her own words from her letters and journals. It's very entertaining, very intelligent and very funny. People must realise that the grumpy impression she is often remembered for was directly connected to the death of her husband, Albert - she was absolutely shattered because she adored him.'
Prunella is keen to emphasise that this is NOT a one-woman show.
'It contains some lovely music which is sung by tenor Ian Partridge to piano accompaniment by David Owen Norris,' she explains.
'A lot of the music will be unfamiliar to people but it's music Victoria knew and loved, including some songs written by Prince Albert who was quite a fine musician - hence the Albert Hall, of course! He really studied the pursuit of music and we owe him a great deal, not just the Great Exhibition but a lot more besides.'
The production came about a result of Prunella reading Queen Victoria's letters many years ago.
'Katrina Hendrey wanted to write a play for her husband, Ian Burnett, and me. She read Victoria's letters and this is the result. Ian was the original pianist but David is equally brilliant.'
I recall meeting Tim and Prunella some nine or 10 years ago when he played the title role in 'The Scottish Play' at Mold, a fact I hear her reminding him of and which he remem-
bers well.
'He was there for weeks, I'm just coming for three nights but it will be lovely to be back at Clwyd,' she says.
Conversation turns to their two sons, Sam, also a well known actor, and Joe, an IT expert in France.
'We are lucky, we have darling children and I wasn't surprised when Sam, who is taking over as artistic director in residence at Sheffield, announced that he wanted to be an actor. Acting runs in the family. Sam's parents, grandparents and great-grandparents have all been in the theatre.'
One cannot speak to Prunella Scales without mentioning that classic of all time comedy, Fawlty Towers, in which she played the long-suffering Sybil.
'Don't apologise for mentioning it,' she says. 'I enjoyed it very much. It was very hard work but I'm grateful to it, in the same way as I am for the Tesco ads (in which she plays the eccentric, bargain-hunting mother) because they were well written. They paid quite well, which theatre work doesn't!'
