AUSTRALIANS may be familiar with Celia Pacquola from her role as the assistant of Billie (Kat Stewart) in popular television drama Offspring. Now Aussie fans in the UK have the chance to catch Pacquola in action, when she appears in real life at the Soho Theatre with her stand-up show Delayed.
For more great Aussie comedians in London in 2013 read: Aussie Comedy Bonanza
Pacquola is well versed in British culture having spent a gap year here in the not so distant past.
“The most valuable lesson I learnt during my stay was ‘Pants’ means ‘Underwear’,” she says.
Following her stand-up experiences in London she has even more sturdy advice for aspiring comedians.
“Keep going. Keep getting up at gigs. Even when you don’t want to.
“And trust me, when it’s dark at 4pm and colder than the stare from your ex’s new girlfriend, there will be times when you don’t want to. Also, be nice.”
Being ‘nice’ is something Pacquola must have down to a tee, due to her success on Rove, Laid and now Offspring — not to mention numerous appearances as herself on Australian and British television including Russell Howard’s Good News and Never Mind the Buzzcocks.
It’s a quality also evident when talking about her co-stars on Offspring, as Pacquola has nothing but affectionately paranoid things to say about Kat Stewart.
“Before I had met Kat Stewart, people had told me about how lovely, talented and in general what a great person she was,” she explains.
“I mean, a LOT. To the point where I started getting a bit defensive about the whole thing. ‘Yeah, sure. We’ll see.’ Then I met her.
“Annoyingly, she was all those things and more. It was a real pleasure to get to be silly near her.”
Pacquola is definitely in fine form having just arrived in the UK from Montreal, despite a broken plane.
She is looking forward to the fact she can exploit being “vaguely interesting because she’s not from here” and the wide range of chip varieties. It’s probably not the time to tell her about the limited edition Cricket Tea Crisps paying homage to the ham, cheese and tomato sandwich.
If you get the chance head down to see one-of-the-best this week at Soho Theatre. After the show take a leaf out of Pacquola’s book and hit the town good and proper at her favourite restaurant.
“I usually eat from a restaurant called My Microwave,” she says.
“It’s a pretty small place and serves primarily ready-meals and macaroni cheese from the packet (or on a particularly fancy evening, a plate!).”
Delayed with Celia Pacquola is at the Soho Theatre from Wednesday 31 July for four nights only. Tickets are £10-£12.50. See sohotheatre.com for more information.