Lyngo Theatre brings its much-acclaimed one-man Tom Thumb show to Tara Arts a week on Friday, performed by Cbeebies' Razzle Dazzle and Let's Celebrate presenter Patrick Lynch. GRAHAM MOODY caught up with him to talk about hitting more than half a century of shows and making the transition from a psychology student to a children's entertainer.
Graham Moody: Your Tom Thumb is not a take on the original fairytale is it?
Patrick Lynch: It's from a version of the fairytale, there are quite a few different ones. This is the version by Charles Perrault. In it, Tom has six brothers and his parents are very poor and they leave all the brothers in the Forest because they cannot feed them. Tom leads them all back home though so the parents take them back into the forest for a second time and leave them deeper in. Instead of going back to their parents' house this time they get to an ogre's house and that causes some problems. It's exciting and it's got some bits of suspension in it.
GM: You've been performing Tom Thumb since starting Lyngo in 2003 haven't you?
PL: Yes, it was the first one we ever did and we have been touring it ever since. It's been developed as we have gone along. We generally do not put things away as a company, we keep the shows in business because we put so much work into them. I have probably done Tom Thumb more than 500 times I would think, it's a show people really love.
GM: Wow, haven't you got bored of doing it?
PL: No. I've never got bored. The type of show it is means that although it is storytelling it's quite interactive - you direct it at the audience. Every performance is different and I never get tired of telling the story.
GM: You have an MA from Glasgow University in psychology don't you so how did you get into children's entertainment?
PL: I do have an MA yes but I never really practiced it. At University I started doing a bit of drama and liked it so started doing some more and went on to do a postgraduate in drama therapy, which involves using drama and theatrical techniques as therapy. That's the connection between the psychology and children's stuff.
Tom Thumb, Tara Arts, Garratt Lane, October 15, 8.30pm, £7.50. Call 020 8333 4457 or visit tara-arts.com.
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