Lenny Wood sits down and smiles broadly with the assurance of a comic actor who knows just the right thing to put you at ease.  This young man has done so much in his life already that it doesn’t seem a surprise when you go through the list of achievements and plays that he has acting credits in.  The putting at ease is paramount when it comes to someone who can make you laugh with just flick of eyebrow, the right word, even off the cuff, in the right place and the ability to make to make any comic creation they play seem endearing and as someone you would want to be friends with.

For Lenny, the chance to be in Dave Kirby’s play Dreaming of a Barry White Christmas for the second successive year is a huge honour as he gets to act alongside the likes of Andrew Schofield, Gillian Hardie, Keddy Sutton , Paul Duckworth and Alan Stocks again. To go straight into the play on the back of the hugely successful production of You’ll Never Walk Alone, The Official History Of Liverpool Football Club  is one that also has Lenny understandably shimmering with pride.

I was able to catch up with Lenny at a very special launch of the Christmas production, which is on inside the auditorium at the Echo Arena this year and ask him about the play, Dave Kirby’s excellent writing for women and being clipped around the head by Liverpool radio legend Billy Butler.

Congratulations in being part of the play for the second year running.

Lenny: “I feel very privileged, very proud. Well earned (laughs)”.

You came across, dare I say it, as an absolute gem in the run last year.  The scenes where you are bouncing off Andrew Schofield but also in the greatest traditions of farce where you are exploring your relationship with the doll went down an absolute storm.

Lenny: “Well it’s because of the way it’s written by Dave Kirby, it is real, it is love. My character does have a real affinity for her. Most girls are plastic anyway. I say that with the biggest tongue in cheek possible of course (laughs).”

Of course Dave Kirby’s plays are always rather special, how do you feel about being in them?

Lenny:  “I’m just really happy to be part of it. He is a fantastic writer, he really is. He writes great characters, (coughs) sorry I am losing my voice.”

I have that effect on people.

Lenny: “You do, you charmed me (laughs). I especially like the way he writes for young lads, teenage boys, the way he introduces them into the world and onto the stage as well. I have played a couple of young characters for Dave and they have both been very different and yet at the same time very similar. With Lost Soul for example when I played the Barman, he was just an absolute idiot to the world, no social skills what’s so ever and it’s the same kind of thing for Wayne in Barry White but Wayne is a lot more intelligent than he makes out to be in Barry White I think. He has got a little more intelligence and he keeps it as subtle as possible, it is there.  Dave writes for everyone brilliantly, he has a real wide eye to it all and to local life really.”

He writes for women especially well, as a lot of Liverpool writers do.

Lenny: “Well Willy Russell is a prime example of that!”

Exactly! How do you compare what Dave Kirby brings to your part to say what he gives to the marvellous Keddy Sutton and Gillian Hardie?

Lenny: “Well the female characters in Dave’s plays would be more traditionally serious, there is lot more heart and lot more soul to them, a lot less potential to fall apart. They are a lot stronger. It’s like Willy’s characters. I think what Dave does he hides where ladies can’t see him and listens to them because he just seems to know exactly, he knows every emotional process a woman goes through and it works really well.”

You could say that with Gillian’s character as she is seen to be in charge without actually being the boss. She has to deal with you, she has to deal with Andrew, with Paul and with Alan!

Lenny: “Oh Alan’s character is the one (laughs). He is just so infatuated with her and she’s just got to shun him off and she holds the entire mould together really. When she finds out the place is going to be up for sale it is her that reacts, she reacts in the correct way, the men do not. “

It is the strength of women isn’t it. as men we can be seen as but buffoons in the eternal comedy and women are lauded which is quite right. It’s like the old days in Coronation Street where the women were the glue that held the community together.

Lenny: “That’s not wrong at all. The men were worker bees weren’t they, the strength lay at home. The man could go and work on n oil rig and get as dirty as they want but the moment they stepped back behind the door the woman was in charge as it should be.”

You are an exceptionally gifted young comic actor and your timing is excellent but you are working very closely with three supremely talented men in Paul Duckworth, Alan Stocks and Andrew Schofield, have you learned much of them?

Lenny: “Of course, every day is a learning process for me. I am still very young and the likes of Drew…well I have known Drew since I was about 16 years old on a personal level so working with him on a professional level is absolutely incredible. His timing is the best I have ever seen. The things I do on stage, they aren’t really showing my talent, it’s just copyright theft really (laughs). I just steal it off Drew. It’s the same with Alan and Paul, their facial expression are just incredible as well. I have learned a hell of a lot off those guys yes.”

It has been said many times that Andrew is perhaps the most underrated actor of his generation, he should have been so much bigger and more well known outside of the city than he is. You seem to instinctively seem to get that with the way you work alongside him, there is glint, a moment of something special when you are on stage with him.

Lenny: “(laughs) Well, it’s the Master and the little project in the same scene. He really is incredible to work with. My level does jump up when I am working with him, it has too. You have to keep up with him. I think that’s why people see the spark between us. It is very real. I have a hell of a lot of respect for him.”

You have worked in places such as factories before, anywhere like the one owned by Thomas Minge?

Lenny: “Oh yes, I have worked everywhere though. I have been a Docker, I have worked in bakery, a factory, I worked in a tea bag factory. I have been everywhere. I am very much a council trained actor, I have been through everything, I really have. I’m still nowhere near where I want to be but I’m getting there, the wheels are turning.”

Liverpool radio personality Billy Butler walks past and playfully smacks Lenny round the head at this point.

Lenny: “There’s nothing quite like getting a clip off Billy Butler is there (laughs)!

Did that hurt?

Lenny: “Yeah but I don’t cry about it though” (laughs).

The play was a gem last year in the main arena at the Liverpool Echo but by moving it into the Auditorium it seems to suggest a more intimate setting.

Lenny: “I think it’s a match made in Heaven. Dave wanted the auditorium last year but it was already booked so Dave took up the opportunity to stage it in the main arena. I think it worked better than some thought  but I suppose it depended upon where you were seated, say for example on the back tiers, it’s like a football stadium, you know? It’s really deep and the feeling of vertigo…there’s oxygen masks when you go past Row H so I think it will work even better in the auditorium. I did a show at the Echo Arena last week, the L.F.C. show and we also used the same area but we had cameras set up so we had two gigantic screens alongside the stage so for those who felt distant from the action could see what was going on in close up anyway. So that is one way of getting round it, like a rock concert maybe or a comedian is able to get the more intimate side across.”

Going from the L.F.C. story to Barry White must be extraordinary as you also get to work with Jake and Mark who exceptionally good actors themselves. Do the two plays compare for you?

Lenny: (Laughs) “Well I do like to show a little bit of versatility when I can. In the L.F.C. show I do get to play a lot of comedy in that but it certainly shows a lot more of my strength for which I grateful for.”

It must have been nice as well to have Jamie Hampson back alongside you as well?

Lenny: “Jamie’s a great actress. I think she quit for a while to concentrate on music but I ‘m glad she’s back, a tremendous attitude to work.”

Ian D. Hall.