Interviews - Laura Lawson - Part Three

No, they've got to look little. These kids look little. You know in Bugsy Malone, God knows how old they are, but they all look like children dressing as adults. These kids have to look like that, so it doesn't actually matter how old they get it's how old they look. If they still look like children, you know baby faces, no facial hair, that sort of thing, then they're in, they're cool, it works. Once they look like adults it just doesn't work anymore, the whole thing is that they are kids and they know that.

That's what's so exciting about School of Comedy because you are constantly looking for these kids because it's a brand. Once one lot gets too old you can introduce more and it's really fun like that. The kids know they have been part of something really special and then they move on.

No, not yet because the girls are the oldest and the girls still retain that sort of youthfulness. It's more the boys you have to worry about. So we've still got all of last year's cast... we've actually got one more.

We had an 11-year-old in this Comedy Lab. She was 10 when we started, going on 11, but she was a bit too young for Edinburgh because obviously they are away from home. And then we've got another boy called Africa. He's amazing. He's 14.

So yeah, it's constantly evolving - new kids, the kids we've got getting better, the younger ones coming in, it's so exciting.

Well, yeah I am but I've taken a couple of months out because it's the summer holidays and then I've just had a baby and I've also got the School of Comedy school, which I run at the Tabard theatre. It's basically like a comedy school for kids where we do what we do with the older kids, but they're just much younger – they're 8 to 13-year-olds. We give them the same sort of sketches, but we don’t really promote the swearing because they're too young, but it's all really the same adult stuff, which is great. So I run that as well, as weekly and holiday courses.

I don't know - you just do. It's fun and such nice work, it doesn't feel like you're up to your eyeballs, it just feels like you're busy, but it's nice busy and it's with kids and they're such a joy to work with. I took the baby along to the course the other day and exposed her to it all.

Do you think in 12 years time your child will be starring in your productions?

I don't know! She'll probably shun it! She'll probably be a lawyer or a politician and go completely the other way. I'd like her to do something creative, but, you never know do you, you never know which way you're going to go.

There's quite a few, actually. I think all of them have got really special qualities. They are amazing because they're not like children, they're mini-adults, they're so capable and I think all of them have got a career if they want it.

It depends on whether people look after them well and give them opportunities and that sort of thing. Child actors very seldom make it through to the adult arena, but I think these kids want to do it long-term. Some of them are just doing School of Comedy because they love it, they don't want to do anything else. A couple of the boys aren't that interested in acting at all, they'd much rather do academic work and play rugby, but they just happen to love being a part of the School of Comedy because we just have such fun that they're happy to do this, but they wouldn't do anything else.

What? Like dolphins in Florida!? No! Unless I could work with a super dog like Gin from Britain's Got Talent!

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