Caro Meets Children's Show Interview

Patrick Lynch: Snow Play

By | Published on Friday 13 December 2013

snowplay
Patrick Lynch is the artistic director of – and performer with – highly successful children’s theatre group Lyngo, and if you’re a parent, you’ve probably seen him on your TV screen too, courtesy of kiddie channel Cbeebies.

This month, Lyngo begin a run of their acclaimed ‘Snow Play’ at Bloomsbury Theatre, and to be honest, I think I’d quite like to see this show even if I didn’t have children. So to find out more about the play, the company, and Patrick himself, I sent over a few questions.

CM: Can you tell us what ‘Snow Play’ is about?
PL: ‘Snow Play’ is about the battle between winter and spring and what happens if winter decides one year not to leave. Mr Green arrives back from holiday to find Mr White in his house and he won’t go away. Instead, he starts to make it snow all over Mr Green’s garden and his house. The show is about all the ways Mr Green tries to get rid of him, and what finally makes him go back to the North.

CM: Did the company write the show? How did you come up with the idea?
PL: We wrote the show with Marcello Chiarenza, an Italian artist. He is also the director and designer. I am Scottish so the idea of a Winter that never wants to leave came naturally to me!

CM: Apparently the audience are invited to participate in the show? To what extent is this, and is it compulsory (or indeed, scary)?
PL: Yes, there is a lot of participation but all of it comes naturally. When we are making a participatory show we see what the audience naturally want to do and then we construct the interaction around those instincts. In ‘Snow Play’ we ask them to play with our snow, make a giant snowman and have a huge snowball fight. So none of it is scary or compulsory, just hopefully hugely enjoyable!

CM: Since your company Lyngo formed in 2003 you’ve done many productions for children and families – including productions of the likes of ‘Jack And The Beanstalk’ and ‘Tom Thumb’. Do you have a favourite?
PL: I think my favourite is always the one I am doing so it’s ‘Snow Play’ now, followed by ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ which is our latest production. I always have great affection for our early years shows though, which have taken us to America and Singapore, and are exciting because they push the boundaries of participatory theatre.

CM: Are children a tougher crowd than adults? Do you think you have to work harder to make shows which are suitable for them?
PL: Well they certainly won’t pretend to be interested. If you don’t grab their excitement and attention from the beginning then you will have lost them. So in that sense it is more difficult than adult theatre. But the same principles underlie any piece of theatre – great story, fantastic effects and a sense of wonder.

CM: Over the last few years your work has primarily been in the area of children’s entertainment. What made you decide to specialise in this area?
PL: I feel that you can be more free with this type of theatre. You can attempt new things and people will be willing to come along and try them. It’s the most exciting thing there is to see how people will react to something new.

TW: You’ve also done quite a lot of TV work, appearing on such Cbeebies shows as ‘Razzle Dazzle’ and ‘Let’s Celebrate’. Is that as enjoyable as live performance?
PL: Well the process of doing it is not as immediately rewarding as live theatre. What is great, though, is when people come up and tell you how much they enjoyed watching you on TV. You never know when that is going to happen.

CM: What’s next for Lyngo?
PL: We have about 100 performances to do all over the country of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ from January to June. We are thinking about our next show now. It might very well be ‘Pinocchio’…

‘Snow Play’ is on at Bloomsbury Theatre until 23 Dec, then from 4-11 Jan, and is aimed at 3-8 year olds. Find more info and book tickets on this page here

LINKS: www.thebloomsbury.com | www.lyngo.co.uk | twitter.com/LyngoTheatre



READ MORE ABOUT: | | |