Interviews

Sanjeev Bhaskar On … King Arthur’s Crown

Since rising to fame in the BBC sketch show Goodness Gracious Me, Sanjeev Bhaskar has established himself as one of the leading British comedy writer-performers. He’s now making his West End debut playing the final King Arthur in Monty Python’s Spamalot at the Palace Theatre, his first stage role since appearing in Art in 2001. He’s married to Meera Syal, his co-star in Goodness Gracious Me and the follow-up series The Kumars at No. 42.

Editorial Staff
London's West End

I’m really enjoying working on Spamalot, as I like doing things that are outside my comfort zone, it makes me work harder. And it’s fantastic working with such a nice bunch of people – we’re dancing and singing every day. I’m hoping it will be keeping me fit. I’ve tried the no carbs thing but I think this will have a greater impact!

Prior to the TV work I did a lot of theatre in education and then I did Art in the West End, but I’ve never done a musical before so in that sense this is a huge departure for me. I sang a bit in Goodness Gracious Me and did a charity single with Gareth Gates, but this is on a different scale. I’ve never actually considered myself a comedian. I’ve always thought of myself as an actor and a writer who just happens to be able to do comedy. I remember someone saying to me once, “comedy is just drama with its trousers round its ankles” and I’ve always thought that’s such a good analogy.

In a way being crowned as the next King Arthur is almost like being the next Doctor Who, it feels like a mantle being passed on. It’s just such a pleasure to be involved in it, as I’m part of the generation that was inspired by Python. When we were doing Goodness Gracious Me, Monty Python and Woody Allen were the two main sources of inspiration. To get to say those words out loud is such a privilege. It’s utterly silly. One of the things I liked about the show when I originally went to watch it was that it’s great to have theatre where the sole purpose is to entertain. I think it stops us getting too up ourselves.

I’ve been sent a few plays in the last few years, but I didn’t find anything that felt like a good fit, so this has come along at a great time. Seeing Meera do Bombay Dreams and then Rafta, Rafta reminded me of how much fun I had had doing Art, so I’m delighted to be back on stage. One of the things I’ve really enjoyed about my first ten years in this profession has just been the variety of stuff I get to do – radio, theatre, and film, telly, documentaries, sketch shows, sitcoms and all the rest of it, but I’d love to do more theatre work.

For me, theatre is probably the art form which has the most colour-blind casting. In TV and film you’re pretty much cast as characters who are written in accordance with a perceived notion of your race, but that’s less common in theatre. In Spamalot, if all the audience is thinking half-way through is ‘he’s Asian’, I’m not doing my job properly. And anyway, if you study historical documentation you will find that King Arthur was in fact Asian. All great kings in British history were Indian.

– Sanjeev Bhaskar was speaking to Theo Bosanquet


Bhaskar is the final King Arthur in the West End production of Monty Python’s Spamalot, which finishes its two-year run at the Palace Theatre on 3 January 2009, prior to a recast regional tour.