Looking for Me Friend... and saluting a treasured talent
Victoria Wood’s legacy will be celebrated in song and story at Gosforth Civic Theatre next week. Sam Wonfor hears from the show’s creator and star
Nearly a decade on from Victoria Wood’s passing, her voice is still unmistakable. It’s there in the throwaway one-liners we quote without thinking, in the sketches that feel as relevant now as they did in the 80s, and in songs that can switch from daft to devastating in the space of a verse. Or a note.
The BAFTA-winning comedian, writer and performer was one undoubtedly of Britain’s best-loved and most talented entertainers. From Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV and her sitcom dinnerladies to the West End musical Acorn Antiques and the award-winning drama Housewife, 49, her work blended humour and humanity in ways that made her both a national treasure and a radical commentator, hiding in plain sight.
Newcastle audiences are invited to revel in Victoria’s far-reaching legacy next week (September 18), when Looking For Me Friend: The Music of Victoria Wood takes to the stage at Gosforth Civic Theatre in Newcastle.
The show has been selling out theatres across the country for the past five years. But this isn’t some karaoke stroll through The Ballad of Barry and Freda and Pam. It’s a cabaret-style celebration - part love letter, part trip down memory lane, complete with piano accompaniment and a smattering of knowingly dodgy accents.
The man at the centre of it all is Paulus the Cabaret Geek who explains how the show began with a realisation after Victoria’s untimely death in 2016 following a private battle with breast cancer.
“Discussing Victoria’s legacy after her death, I hit upon the idea that for gay guys like myself and my pianist Michael, growing up in the 80s and 90s, Victoria’s wit and word-play had become a sort of unintentional modern polari. That was the genus of it all,” he says.
That kernel has grown into a production that has charmed everyone from casual fans to the beloved writer, actor and comedian’s family. Her brother and schoolfriends have turned up, as have members of her much-loved repertory troupe such as Mark Gatiss, Sue Devaney, Deborah Grant and Graham Seed.
But Paulus insists the seal of approval he treasures most is from the crowds who come to see the show.. “Audiences have been kind and warm and I’m delighted to say that more than a few have come back to see us three or four times since their first visit,” he says.
The appeal lies in the fact that Paulus doesn’t try to “be” Victoria Wood. There’s no wig, no impersonation, no uncanny valley imitation. Instead, he and pianist Michael Roulston present themselves as what they are - two lifelong fans, delighting in the comedy and poignancy of her work alongside the rest of the audience.
“It’s certainly not an impersonation; Michael and I play ourselves - honest, devoted fans like our audience members,” Paulus explains. “We do the accents - very badly, and in between songs he is Julie to my Vic as we bounce around bon-mots and punchlines from her scripts.
“I have tried to focus on the energy and pace of her live performances and have been told more than once after a show that it felt as though she was there in the room with us.”
Victoria’s voice often rang clearest when speaking for outsiders. Paulus understands this instinctively. “If you have ever been ‘othered’ then you probably got Vic’s sense of humour,” he says. “She wasn’t interested in thin people or glamorous people. She shone a spotlight on the everyday.” For him, that resonance is woven through his own memories of growing up in Thatcher’s 80s, and the show embraces those personal threads alongside the solid gold source material.
Not that it’s all soul-searching. The songs, performed with Michael’s piano accompaniment, are as funny and fast-paced as ever. “The words come thick and fast and most of the numbers are very pacy,” Paulus says, admitting he only really hit his stride after a couple of years on tour.
His favourite to perform? A perhaps lesser-known number called Crush, sung from the perspective of an 11-year-old hopelessly smitten with a boy on their school bus. “I was this age when first introduced to VW,” he smiles. “It’s also the first time in the show that I get a sit-down.”
Alongside the laughter, though, comes that unmistakable catch in the throat - the bittersweet edge that was Victoria’s great secret weapon.
“We haven’t changed any of the song lyrics, so it’s striking how relevant they seem to be for our current concerns,” Paulus says. “Politicians come and go, but paying the gas bill, dealing with nosey neighbours and having a terrible dry cleaner are things anyone of any age and status has to deal with, no matter the era they live during.”
The show is directed by Sarah-Louise Young, who has previously staged acclaimed homages to Kate Bush and Julie Andrews. Paulus describes her as his best friend - he was best man at her wedding - and credits her with shaping the show into something that balances warmth, wit and poignancy.
Michael Roulston, meanwhile, has been playing Victoria’s songs alongside Paulus since the days when Paulus performed as a drag act called Trinity Million. “We are literally friends because of VW,” he says.
If the show feels like a communal act of remembrance, that’s exactly how Paulus wants it. He talks warmly of the “Traycloths” - the affectionate name for Victoria’s superfans - and the way audiences lean into the sense of gathering around a shared cultural hearth. Younger fans are discovering the magic too. “The song At The Chippy was a TikTok trend in 2021, and I meet loads of girls in their 20s who discovered her through that.”
This autumn’s tour marks the penultimate outing for Looking For Me Friend before one final run in spring 2026 to coincide with the 10th anniversary of Victoria’s passing.
“After which I will finally hang up the beret and finish the crossword in the Woman’s Weekly (for now!),” Paulus jokes. But before that, there’s Newcastle - and for him, that means a warm return to familiar territory.
“I’ve turned on the Christmas lights at Stockton Sparkles a bunch of times, and hosted the Festival of Thrift for five years whilst it was in Darlington, Redcar and Kirkleatham. I always love coming to that part of the world,” he says.
For Paulus, part of the magic of Looking For Me Friend lies in the way it bridges generations. “I think her broad appeal is down, in part, to the lack of vulgarity in her work. Very little swearing in any of it.
“Whilst younger punters may be baffled by mentions of the Poll Tax and Judith Chalmers, they are equally likely to tune in to the colour and barmy nature of her songwriting and witticisms. It’s wonderful to meet a new generation of fans,” he says.
Looking For Me Friend: The Music of Victoria Wood comes to Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle on September 18 2025. Tickets and details available via gosforthcivictheatre.co.uk.