Interviews

Samuel James on Screaming Lord Sutch

The actor plays the legendary anarchic figure in James Graham’s new show which has just opened in Plymouth

How much research have you had to do for the role of Screaming Lord Sutch?

Prior to working on this production, I was only really aware of his political exploits [setting up The Monster Raving Loony Party]. So it’s been fascinating for me to learn about his career as a rock singer. For a time he also had a pirate radio station. I learnt a lot more about his personal life too: his relationship with his mother and how he spent his entire life looking for a voice. And how he was eventually deserted.

Who was he deserted by?

People, particularly in the party itself, gradually began to grow up, they didn’t want to muck about any more, they wanted to take life seriously. It was like: we’ve had our fun. So they moved on. But he just kept on plugging away. He would have periods of depression and he would go from being in a very dark place to euphoria when he had the next idea of something to do. And that in itself is quite a child-like quality. He never really grew up.

How does that come across in your performance?

The interesting thing in the way James [Graham] has written this play is that we are telling the story of Lord Sutch, but we are telling it through the medium of post-war British comedy up to when he killed himself in 1999. So for example, we cover everything from Hancock’s Half Hour, to Absolutely Fabulous to Some Mothers Do Have Em: you name it we tell his story through the medium of those comedies. It’s only towards the end of the play that we get a sense of who he really might have been.

So as well as Lord Sutch, you’re also taking on those characters?

It’s been a fascinating and fun process because there’s lots of mimicry involved. I think the entire cast ‘play’ at least 20 different classic British comedy characters.

Is the play more about the comedy TV programmes than Lord Sutch, then?

No, no, it’s absolutely the story of Lord Sutch. The dialogue is written as though you are Del Boy, or as though you are Edina in Absolutely Fabulous but the message that comes across is his. The play is attempting to look at the changes that were happening in post war Britain and it’s the story of Sutch trying to find his identity. But the aim is to come along and laugh: it’s an extremely funny play. I’ve certainly never worked on anything like this in my career ever before.

What’s your opinion of Lord Sutch?

The public perception was that he was completely bonkers and a figure of fun. But with The Monster Raving Loony Party, he was basically saying: we are all entitled to be a part of the democratic process. Thatcher’s government made a concerted effort to try and shut him up because the fear was he was mocking the process of democracy and of politics as a whole. In actual fact, when he stood at the podium in his silly hat he was saying ‘I am allowed to do this’.

What would we have done if he’d ever been voted in?

The whole idea of The Monster Raving Loony Party was that it wasn’t a serious party. There was actually a rule that if you were to successfully win a seat in parliament, you actually couldn’t be a part of The Monster Raving Loony Party any more.

Read our review of Monster Raving Loony here

Monster Raving Loony runs at the Theatre Royal Plymouth until 27 February.