Hormonal Housewives hits the Crawley stage

The night offers a topical three-hander comedy sketch show co-written by Scottish comedian and playwright Julie Coombe and her husband, playwright/director John MacIsaac.

Julie appears in the show alongside Suzanne (Dancing on Ice, Chicago in the West End) and Josephine Partridge (Top Girls) as Hormonal Housewives blasts its way through a catalogue of popular women’s bits: weight gain, weight loss, mood swings, housework, homework, electrolysis, men, sex, internet dating, chocolate and more.

Suzanne admits it’s probably not one for the chaps: “My partner hasn’t seen it yet, but he will do. It is a great night out – but it’s definitely one for the ladies. There is a little bit of joking around the men, but it is mostly women taking the mickey out of women. We go through a lot! The early years, the teenage years, birthing, the menopause, old age…. It’s a lot to take on!

“We come on as ourselves, but as heightened versions of ourselves, and we also do lots of sketches. I have done straight plays and comedy plays, and this has got a little bit of both. What I really love about it is that it is such a great showcase really. I get to do a lot of different accents and also I get to play myself. It is a real role. Plus it is really enjoyable as girls on the road. We are having such fun, a really good laugh.”

Hear’Say is coming up for 20 years ago now, and inevitably it follows Suzanne around: “It is what I became know for. I spent a year and a half in the band. I have been doing theatre far, far longer than I was ever in the band, but it’s what you become famous for, and I can’t regret it at all. I would have liked it to have lasted longer than it did, but I don’t ever think I would have gone on to a long career in pop. I just wanted to get back to the stage and acting. For me, the real excitement, the amazing excitement is the West End and touring shows. For me, there is just nothing better than going into a theatre. It is what I love most.”

From Hear’Say to the West End as Roxie in Chicago to winning the third series of the ITV skating show Dancing On Ice, Suzanne’s many West End credits include Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the Rocky Horror Show, Vagina Monologues, Cinderella, Aladdin and more.

Now comes Hormonal Housewives.

“The other two have done it before. I am the newbie, but you have got to start somewhere! It’s just lovely being part of the company, but my problem is that I am wanting to run before I can walk,” Suzanne says of rehearsals. “It will take time for the lines to sink in, and I have just got to be patient!”

But the joy of the show is that it is all so wonderfully recognisable, particularly its depiction of teenagers and their language which comes from another planet – teenagers who won’t speak before 4pm and even then only speak in grunts and grumbles.

“I think girls are more temperamental while the boys are more self-conscious. But I do think it is hard for teenagers now…”

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