Interview: Linda McLean on Bringing Castle Lennox to Edinburgh Lyceum

BroadwayWorld caught up with writer Linda McLean about bringing Castle Lennox to the Edinburgh Lyceum with Lung Ha Theatre.

What was Lennox Castle?

It was originally a castle built for the Lennox family. In the 1930s it was converted into a hospital for the learning disabled, housing 1200 patients. It closed in 2002. It was built at a time when the trend was to remove people with learning disabilities from general society.

Why did you feel this was an important story to tell?

I don't actually tell the story of Lennox Castle. The play is called Castle Lennox because it is a fictionalised version of such places, which were found all across the UK and Europe. And on developing it with the company, the actors decided they would like a fairy tale element to the story. Hence Castle Lennox.

Most places like Lennox Castle were not only closed but also knocked down so, in fact, it's not easy to find where they were, or even the roads that took you there. The Open University includes Lennox Castle in its Hidden History series because it's in danger of being forgotten. I remember it because I visited there as a child and witnessed it first-hand.

Castle Lennox is the story of a young girl with autism who is sent there and kept in the hospital for over 20 years. In reality, many people spent their whole lives there. The drug regime, the menus and the punishments that appear in the play are accurate. As were the lifelong friendships that were forged.

But the reason I'm telling this story is because for the first time, I'm able to tell it with a company like Lung Ha. For me, seeing this cast of learning-disabled actors perform in a story about a place where they would have been held, makes good a promise to my seven-year-old self. There is no need to lecture or persuade anyone about the rights or wrongs of such a regime. The fact of those actors on stage tells its own story.

Do you think psychiatric facilities in Scotland have progressed as much as they should have since Lennox Castle closed?

Lennox Castle wasn't a psychiatric hospital per se. Its main function was not to cure but to remove people from society. I do know that psychiatry is the poor relative of medicine.

Who would you like to come and see it?

It's a musical with a surprisingly uplifting end, so if that's what you like to watch, please come. It's tender, funny, a wee bit scary, and an event you're unlikely to see repeated.

What do you hope audiences take away from the show?

The understanding that we all have talents. I bet they'll be humming the tunes all the way home.

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