It was that throaty laugh that landed Sunny Ormonde the role of gin swigging good time girl Lilian Bellamy in the Archers, and there were plenty of laughs at her one woman show on Friday.
Before an audience of Archers listeners, she walked a fine line between spilling the beans on plot lines and observations that were pure Lilian, plus a selection of limericks and poems that would probably not have made it on to the airwaves in a family programme.
There is however more to Sunny than playing Pusscat, as she demonstrated with favourite extracts from Pam Ayres, Gervase Finn, Dylan Thomas, Laurie Lee and Shakespeare, beautifully delivered, even if Lilian occasionally interrupted with her own pithy comments.
Questions came thick and fast. Would she consider vampire facials? When these blood based beauty therapies were outlined she said she would love to get her departed lover Matt back, in order to bleed him dry. A prizewinning question concerned what to do to keep a mother in law who closely resembled Lynda Snell under control. ‘Push her over a cliff’ was the advice given.
Discussing the sad demise of Nigel Pargetter, and departure of some of the 80 strong cast (who would have believed there were so many?) she declared that no part was guaranteed to continue for ever. The audience on Friday would certainly hope that Lillian’s future is assured for many years to come.
Rosalind Ambler
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