4th Mar : Mayflower, Southampton  11th Mar : Wimbledon Theatre
18th Mar : Princess Theatre, Torquay 
25th Mar : Apollo Theatre, Oxford 
1st Apr : Opera House, Manchester 
8th Apr : Corn Exchange, Cambridge  15th Apr : Everyman, Cheltenham 
22nd Apr : Hippodrome, Bristol 
29th Apr : The Lyceum, Sheffield 
 

Su talks about the financial side of her life and reveals that she's a spender and a saver, "I definitely do both," she says. She also mentions her most extravagant purchase: "A beautiful hand-beaded and hand-dyed dress, specially made for me by a BBC costume designer 10 years ago. It cost £5,000 but it is fantastic. The dress was for my one woman show, but I did go to Sainsbury's in it, which caused a stir."

Su also talks about her first job, moving into her first flat, and the sense of achievement she felt when she first started saving.

Click the picture above to read the full interview.

Thank you to Peter Keogh for providing this.
 

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Pirates Ticket Draw. The following lucky people are the winners:

CRAIG MARTIN of Ipswich
VINCE BOWERS of Glossop
MEIRION JONES of Caernarfon
DAN PEACHEY of Southsea
PAUL TATE of London
KAY MILLER of Chesterfield
MARTIN OSPEDALE of Oxford
TRACEY MURRAY of Ashton-Under-Lyme
BARRY SHEPHERD of Aylesbury
STEPHEN MILLER of London

CONGRATULATIONS!! Each of you will be contacted by post and be receiving two tickets to the venue of your choice.

Direct from London’s West End, this modernised version of the G&S operetta started life as an outdoor production in Central Park, New York, where it caused a huge sensation. 

Just as Gilbert and Sullivan brought opera to the people in their day, with a few laughs along the way, this Olivier Award-nominated production has been souped-up for mass appeal. And it works beautifully.

The raucous tale of pirates, policemen, romance and a Modern Major General has been updated to suit a modern audience, but still retains the trademark G&S humour and classic score. 

It’s all swashbuckling high octane fun – with an Elvis impression, a pantomime sing-along, and some Keystone Cops-style slapstick fooling thrown in. 

Gary Wilmot was superb as the Pirate King. He had the audience in his command, drawing laughs with just the raising of an eyebrow and some impromptu asides. And Su Pollard was a delight as comic nursemaid Ruth.

Great performances too from David Alder as the Major-General and Joshua Dallas as Frederick. And the Major-General’s daughters were simply hilarious. 

You don’t have to be a G&S purist to enjoy the classic score – highlights included Oh, Better Far To Live and Die, When a Felon’s Not Engaged in His Employment, and Poor Wandering One. 

With a spectacular set, lavish costumes and faultless cast, this show will leave you cheering for more.

The applause from last night’s packed out crowd continued long after the curtain had fallen. A perfect sunshine tonic for a wet February.

Emma Clayton

This is taken from the interview...

Gary’s piratical co-star in the new show is the exuberant Su Pollard - a performer who’s surprisingly talented, according to her shipmate.

Her of the loud voice and the even louder outfits may have become the butt of jokes from the sneering classes but there is much more to the actress than Hi De Hi , claims Gary.

He said: “She’s brilliant, she’s just the most wonderful person. She’s surprisingly talented for many people who just know her from all her Hi De Hi stuff. She’s actually a very talented stage performer and I’ve learnt a lot from her.”
 

Hi-De-Hi! - Empty Saddles (ep.29)
BBC Prime : Sunday 3rd Mar - 7.00pm
BBC Prime :Tuesday 5th Mar - 7.30pm
Joe Maplin orders that Fred Quilly’s lame horses must be sent to the knackers-yard. It falls upon the entertainment staff to try to save the horses from their fate...
 

Full details can be found in the 5th February News Update.

Here are just a couple of the reviews of the production: 

"From the moment the little pirate ship traverses the front of the stage, firing canons at the audience, this delightful rendition of Gilbert & Sullivan is a winner."  Financial Times 

"London is awash with musicals these days. Some have wit, some even have tunes, and several have legendary status. But for my money the only one I would want to see a second time was created 120 years ago by Arthur Sullivan and William Schwenck Gilbert - Ian Talbot's joyful production of The Pirates Of Penzance at the Open Air Theatre."  The Times 

Now it appears that another non terrestrial channel, BBC Prime, is following suit with the first two episodes from series five appearing in their broadcast schedules. It looks likely that the entire series will be shown, with perhaps even more series to follow:

Hi-De-Hi! - Concessions (episode 27)
BBC Prime : Sunday 17th February - 7.00pm
BBC Prime : Tuesday 19th February - 7.30pm
As Barry and Yvonne dance to Diaghilev, Spike jokes to Pinocchio, Ted contrives to get in with the local council ‘Mr. Big’ to confound Joe Maplin’s plans to expand his empire.

Hi-De-Hi! - Save Our Heritage (episode 28)
BBC Prime : Sunday 24th February - 7.00pm
When a local cottage is faced with  with destruction and it’s owner threatened with eviction to make way for an extension to the camp Jeffrey is insensed and rallies the staff into thwarting Joe Maplin’s plans.

Hi-De-Hi! - The Complete Episode Guide

Hi-De-Hi - The Su Online ScrapBook
 

Yes! By simply sending an email to webmaster@supollard.org you could win a pair of tickets to The Pirates Of Penzance at a theatre of your choice.

Please make the subject of your email "Pirates Prize Draw" and send it off before the closing date of Friday 15th February. The venues still to be visited by Su and the Pirates gang after the closing date are as follows:

18th Feb : Civic Theatre, Darlington 
25th Feb : Congress Theatre, Eastbourne 
4th March : Mayflower Theatre, Southampton 
11th Mar : Wimbledon Theatre, Wimbledon 
18th Mar : Princess Theatre, Torquay 
25th Mar : Apollo Theatre, Oxford 
1st April : Opera House, Manchester 
8th April : Corn Exchange, Cambridge 
15th April : Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham 
22nd April : Bristol Hippodrome, Bristol 
29th April : The Lyceum, Sheffield 

Please include which theatre you would like a pair of tickets for, along with your name and postal address, so that should you be one of the lucky ten your tickets can be dispatched as quickly as possible.

NB: This offer does not include travel expenses or accomodation, it is a ticket only giveaway - Good Luck!
 

The show continues there until Saturday 9th February before heading for the Alhambra Theatre in Bradford for a week of performances, commencing on Monday 11th February.

Enter the prize draw above for your chance to win a pair of tickets.

Don't forget to visit the Su Online section dedicated to The Pirates Of Penzance

"I had tremendous fun recording the pilot of The Little Robots. Each of us have our own little characters and we live in a twilight world, with no humans, but it is very educational too, as we care about the environment etc. My character is a bit of a drama queen and lives life like she's in amateur dramatics - always singing, whistling and making loud bangs, not surprisingly she's called "Noisy". I can't imagine why they asked me to play it!!"

Other members of The Little Robots cast at the recordings this week include Martin Clunes and Lenny Henry.

More information on the series and broadcast details will be on this page as soon as they are available.
 

This is a fantastic shot of Su, so good we thought we would add it to the website entry page too.