How did you find yourself adapting Julia Donaldson’s The Baddies for the stage?

“It started with the idea that the Lyceum needs to open up our audiences and trial different approaches. As well as our subscribers, patrons and the “drama crowd” we’re trying to widen our audience base. To that end we’ve done musicals but also wanted to do more work for children. We made contact with the company Freckle Productions, who specialise in bringing the work of children’s writer Julia Donaldson’s to the stage, and brought their production of The Stick Man to the Lyceum last year. It did brilliantly, the theatre was full of families and kids. That was really exciting so we thought, ‘Let’s make a show together’. At the Lyceum we want to be making shows that have a long life and Freckle tour shows for a long, long time because when you make theatre for children there is always a new audience coming along. The Baddies seemed like a fantastic option to do that and, for me, it was great fun because creatively I love doing musicals and creating work for children.”

What was it about The Baddies that attracted you to adapt this particular story?

“It was the title, The Baddies. It was them. The Troll, The Witch and The Ghost, three incredibly vivid characters that leap at you off the page yet are also silly and funny. You have this huge clumsy troll with chaotic energy that you can’t be scared of because if he was going to do anything to you he’d always fall over before he could do it. Then there’s the witch who is just messy and gets all her spells wrong and finally there’s the ghost who, in some ways, is the most interesting of all because ghosts ought to be scary but this one is actually quite scared himself. Reading it, I just thought, what a funny, simple idea; baddies who are just no good at being baddies and so we follow them as they get their comeuppance.”

How did you adapt and expand what is a very short children’s book into a one hour musical?

“The story explodes out from the words and the pictures, the book is an essence, really. Children’s books are interesting because they are written to be read time and time again. For parents, if that is not going to drive you absolutely berserk, there has to be an essence that you can keep coming back to in order to find new things in the story. That includes things in the illustrations, some of which we picked up on and used in the musical.”

What is it about Julia Donaldson’s work that makes it ideal for adaptation?

“The Baddies are like children, they’re clumsy and messy and silly and a bit timid. It’s lovely to see their naughtiness being celebrated, knowing all the time that the young girl who meets them can, by calmness and presence of mind, being polite and not being aggressive, find her way through the problems they present. The writing is like a really good poem and, when it’s as good as Julia Donaldson’s, you will always find things to develop – I think The Witch, The Troll and The Ghost are archetypes of all of us as we are all much more interesting when we fail than when we succeed.”

How do children, who are maybe attending theatre for the first time, identify with these characters?

“Children are fascinated by ego and naughtiness. They know they shouldn’t be naughty, but it’s a very human condition so they develop a very quizzical approach to that; what is this interesting force where I just want to knock things over for fun, to throw things at the wall to see if they stick, to scare people... I know I’m not supposed to do these things, so what does that mean? A book like The Baddies explores that in a safe way that really allows them to explore their inner psychology, knowing that, at the end, everybody comes out of it safe and with a maxim by which to live, in this case, the girl’s ability to disarm The Baddies in such wise ways.”

The Baddies works on many levels the writer believes, so what’s in it for the adult in the audience?

“Life is very simple, it’s adults who make it complicated. Theatre for children, when it is right, is work for everyone because when you get it right, you hit something that is pure and simple and true about being. About your being. It’s always disguised, never up front, for example, when you first read Winnie The Pooh you don’t know that it is an extraordinary evocation of friendship and sadness and depression. Or that each of these characters is an archetype, AA Milne doesn’t need to tell you that, it just is. It’s a bit like that with The Baddies, somewhere between The Witch, The Troll, and The Ghost is each one of us, in the sense that we all want to be seen as good at what we do, as imposing, as amazing, as dazzling... but we’re not, because we’re silly, because we’re human.”

How have you enjoyed collaborating with Joe Stilgoe, who provides the music and lyrics for the piece?

“Joe is a fantastic composer, I already knew his work as he wrote a song about the theatre called Mr Matcham. It’s about the Victorian architect who made all these glorious ‘chocolate box’ theatres that exist around Britain. The Lyceum, while not directly a Matcham theatre, is by a pupil of his and very much a theatre in his style. I heard this song a few years ago and it made me think of the Lyceum, so it’s lovely to have come full circle and be working with Joe in the Lyceum.”

What’s the difference between writing for children and writing for adults?

“When you write for grown-ups, people are very polite, kids just go, ‘Ahahaha!’, or ‘Duh!’, or ‘Chatter, chatter, chatter...’. For a dramatist, that’s like a shock injection of raw adrenalin that tells you whether you’ve succeeded in communicating your story. Children force you to do just that and show you up if you don’t. That’s why I like it.”

What would you say to members of the ‘drama crowd’ dithering about whether The Baddies is for them?

“I feel really sure that young folk are going to love it but, genuinely, sitting in the rehearsal room I’m thinking that I must tell my friends, ‘Even if you can’t scoop up a small child from an auntie or uncle to bring to see it, you should still come and maybe sit in the upper circle because it is a great, fun show for everyone.”

The Baddies is at the Yvonne Arnaud from Friday 14 to Sunday 16 February.

Times: Friday 4.30pm. Saturday 10.30am, 2pm and 4.30pm. Sunday 10.30am and 2pm.

Prices: Adults £20, child/concessions £16, babes in arms (under 2 years) free.

For more information and to book tickets, visit www.yvonne-arnaud.co.uk/whats-on/the-baddies or call the box office on 01483 440000 (Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm).