Poetry in Motion: “Hunting of the Snark” Director Gemma Colclough
Gemma Colclough is the director of the latest stage adaptation of “The Hunting of the Snark,” based on Lewis Carroll’s poem of the same name. The show debuted at Edinburgh Fringe and is now making its way to Hong Kong in September.
Why did you choose “The Hunting of the Snark”? It was my favorite poem as a child. I have a very surrealistic sense of humor. My dad used to read it to me and he would adopt silly voices. When I got to creating a piece of children’s theater, it was a no-brainer. I knew “Snark” so well. I loved it as a child but as I grew up it took on a new meaning for me.
What were you aiming to do with this production? We saw lots of children’s theater around but none of it really catered to the whole family. We looked to try to create a show that was enjoyable for small children from a visual point of view; for older children from a story point of view; and for adults from a comedy point of view.
“The Hunting of the Snark” is quite complex on paper, and there’s not much of a storyline. How did you go about tackling the narrative? It’s based on the Lewis Carroll poem which is basically nonsense. It’s quite a popular piece of literature in the UK, but not a lot of people know it particularly well. We tried to simplify it by putting a modern slant on it, so now it’s a story about a father and son, the Baker and the Boy, who go to very strange lengths to find a Snark, and the adventure brings them together, with all these madcap characters around.
Ahead of the tour, have you been adapting the play to make it more accessible to international audiences? It’s brand new territory, but it should translate universally. A lot of it is very silly, with physical comedy. The narrative of each character is played very physically and musically, and it’s told in a colorful, bright, musical way. Stories about family, about a parent and a child, are something everyone can understand.
