Interview with Funnelwick Limb's Murray Lachlan Young

"It's that thing of trying to create an environment where a parent can come along, and they don't just sort of park themselves there and zone out and probably secretly look at their phone whilst their children watch a funny person," he said. 

And the poet has achieved just that with The Chronicles of Atom and Luna. 

Funnelwick Limb, the Harwich based theatre company behind the play, is going on tour after securing £78k of National Lottery funding through Arts Council England.

Murray, who is also the ‘poet in residence’ for BBC Radio 6 Music, said that Atom and Luna evolved from a poem he wrote called The Mystery of the Raddlesham Mumps.

The poem turned into a family-friendly performance but Murray it was said it was “written more for the adult, the child in adults."

By comparison, the Chronicles of Luna was created to be accessible but also “helpful with its cultural offerings” with Murray choosing fairy tales as that middle-ground.

He said: “If you look at, fairy tales as being the original form of education before people went to schools.

“You learn life lessons from fairy tales or folk tales. it was something that I'd always wanted to get more involved in as a writer, looking at the roles of archetypes, you know, witches and werewolves and all of these things."

Development - Children at the Wix and Wrabness Primary School were part of the development of the The Chronicles of Atom and Luna (Image: Funnelwick Limb)

Murray said he was also inspired by pantomime and Greek theatre. 

He believes the play’s fairy tale setting of the woods meant he could “play with” plots.

He added: “Nobody feels they're excluded from folk and fairy tales."

Murray said the message of the play is about “people who've lost their identity trying to find them again” a message he believes children need to hear at an early age.

He said: “In the younger children, there’s this incredible authenticity, they come in all shapes and sizes and different packages of humanity, and they're amazing.

“And then you watch the way society - obviously, society has to function in some way to be cohesive - but you know, a lot of people have their authenticity bred out of them. So, I think to say to people, ‘it's okay to be you’ as a fundamental message."

When asked about his childhood and journey to being a poet, Murray revealed that aged five he had an old tape recorder and that he would use the scratches to add live vocals.

As an “extroverted and natural performer” Murray got involved in numerous parts in the theatre, but was not able to read aloud properly until his thirties.

Murray said no one knew at the time if he had dyslexia or ADHD, adding: “The idea of actually being a writer, when you can't write, then obviously you have to do other stuff.

“So, you turn your life into theatre, or you turn your life into poetry, and I found different ways of expressing it, but it was always with other people's words, and I knew that I was capable of producing stories.”

Becoming a poet for Murray was “like a character in a fairy tale who went to the big city” with a poetry performance at Ronnie Scott’s jazz club in Soho leading to a contract.

Tour - The Chronicles of Atom and Luna will be on tour this autumn (Image: Funnelwick Limb)

As part of the play's development Murray visited six school across Tendring. 

Murray said that he supported more funding for the arts but also said it is challenging for schools and teachers to be creatively equipped for the “wild geniuses” in the classroom.

He said: “We are, as a company, supported by the Arts Council and Arts East, and so I hope they get more money to put more shows on."

He added: “The great thing that we've been seeing with the kids in Tendring that we've been working with, is that they're that they're like, oh, wow, I am a storyteller.

“I can tell stories. I can be part of something. I know I can be creative. And you watch that thing unleashed in children, it's not going back in the box.”