BONNIE Langford has a theory as to why Monty Python’s Spamalot has been such a hit, on the eve of the show’s return to the Grand Opera House, York.

“I think it’s because it’s absolutely barking and it celebrates life,” says Bonnie. “It’s gleeful – and we have to have that in these gloomy times, when light entertainment becomes so much more important as people want an escape.

“When we go out, we want to know that we’re going to come back home having had a laugh, and when you go to theatre you experience so much more than when you’re in your living room.”

“Lovingly ripped off” by Eric Idle and John du Prez from the 1974 film Monty Python And The Holy Grail, Spamalot tells the legendary tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, plus a bevy of beautiful showgirls, cows, killer rabbits, French people…. and Bonnie as the Lady of the Lake, the love interest.

She believes that element is vital to the musical’s popularity. “Although the show is silly, you also want to have a love story going through it because it gives it integrity, and you have to have that or the joke wears thin,” says Bonnie.

“Although the audience is laughing at us, they also want us to succeed and have a happy ending.”

Fresh from finishing her pantomime run as Fairy Fuchsia in Jack And The Beanstalk in Guildford, Bonnie is now playing opposite Steven Pacey’s King Arthur, taking on a role performed previously by Jodie Prenger, Amy Nuttall, Hayley Tamaddon, Hannah Waddington and Jessica Martin.

“It’s one of those roles where such a mixture of people have played her that it seems to have a free rein but can be daunting because you have freedom to do what you want, but you still have to buckle down,” she says.

“I guess Chicago started off the trend for familiar names to do roles for a short time, but I like that as it’s a chance for lots of people to bring their own interpretation to it.

“Looking at her character, the Lady of the Lake is like a cross between Julie Andrews and Liza Minnelli, which in itself is hilarious. She’s every diva there’s ever been, sprinkled with a spoonful of sugar, so there has to be an element of charm, wrapped inside a feisty woman underneath.”

• Monty Python’s Spamalot, which was last in York in November 2012, is on tour at Grand Opera House, York, February 20 to 25. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or atgtickets.com/york Charles Hutchinson