How did Me, As A Penguin come about?

I did some writing workshops at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds because I was sad and unemployed. We wrote short plays which got performed. Then the playhouse asked a few of us to write full-length plays so I wrote Me, As A Penguin.

 

What was your first introduction to theatre?

I was a bit of a latecomer, so I only really got into it after I started writing plays. The first plays that I loved were Wit by Margaret Edson, Talent by Victoria Wood and A Taste of Honey by Shelagh Delaney. Before then I thought theatre was a bit noisy, but those plays are quietly strong and full of heart and mischief.

 

How was Me, As A Penguin first received?

I think people enjoyed it. My Nan did anyway.

 

What stories are you most attracted to as a writer?

People struggle a bit with quite ordinary things in my plays.

 

Pingu or Happy Feet?

Happy Feet please.

 

How does it feel to have your work performed without your direct involvement? Is it a liberating or terrifying experience?

I think it is lovely to know things have a life after you've stopped working on them. I never really thought this play would go on in the first place so it's heartening that people want to do it themselves.

 

How was the show received in LA? - what provoked the show touring there?

It was a different production so it happened just like this one really - the director John Pleshette read the play and asked to put it on, and then it just happened. I thought it might be a disaster really because it is set quite specifically in Hull and although I do love Hull it is quite different to LA, but then it seemed to go down alright.

 

Who is your favourite character in the play and why?

Liz I think. The world needs more Lizzes.

 

What are you working on next?

I'm writing a play about a gay five-a-side football team to go on next year, and doing a tour of a play called Cosmic alongside some playwriting workshops for schools and village halls in Hull and East Yorkshire with a brilliant director called Jane Fallowfield.

 

As you were supported by the West Yorkshire Playhouse- what do you think the role of regional theatres should be in the future?

I think they should do everything they can to find, encourage and nurture new voices to tell truthful and heartfelt stories which mean something to their community, and support existing playwrights to write the best plays they can.

 

What advice would you give to our cast and crew?

Enjoy it.

 

Lastly, why penguins?

My friend Sarah told me a story about someone on a school trip nicking a penguin. The kid just put it in his lunch box and got on the coach back to school and they only found it because it started to smell halfway down the M62. And at the time there was quite a lot in the news about some gay penguins in New York adopting a chick. So I put the two together. I think lots of people have stolen penguins since, and someone told me afterwards the New York penguins split up, but I'd written it by then.

Lucinda is the producer of Me, As A Penguin, playing at the Corpus Playroom, 7pm, 13th-17th November