Lily Bevan interview

Zoo is a comic play that tells the tale of animal instinct, fight or flight and a woman trying to trap 47 flamingos in a urinal. It's picked up some great reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe. We chat to creator Lily Bevan to find out more.

Hurricanes and flamingos, sounds like a deadly storm?

It is. The play is inspired by real events at a Zoo in Miami last year during hurricane season. Animals are not evacuated for hurricanes, as paths of hurricanes are hard to predict, and moving animals causes them extreme anxiety.

But that is not the only danger in our play... the humans are in trouble too.

Did you watch any Sharknado to get inspiration?

Never seen it, too scared. I'm a real wuss. I can't watch Gremlins - I saw it once and was terrified for decades. I can't watch Snakes On A Plane though I'd really like to. I do have a soft spot for Anaconda - a film with John Voight, Jennifer Lopez and Ice Cube, and a huge fake snake. I mean - what's not to love?

How do you make comedy out of Mother Nature?

Zoo isn't really a comedy, it's a drama with jokes. The hurricane is not funny. It's just huge and bad. And in a way it is serving as a metaphor for what's happening in America politically these days, something huge and bad.

Are there jokes about animal poo? Yes. Are there jokes about making friends, and it being weird and awkward, definitely - I'm with you though - I don't think Mother Nature is very funny.

Do animals believe in climate change?

I'm not sure which animals you know, the ones in my scope of reference don't seem to think quite as rationally, or at least have problems expressing opinions of this nature. Do they lose out to climate change - definitely. I mean - it is going to cause havoc for everyone and everything, right? Oh no.

Using comedy to make a serious point - is this important to you?

Yes. So much of life is so hard and strange, and not how it is sold to us as kids - it's a mess and it's hard not to blame ourselves for being so crap at so much. But then you laugh at yourself and the whole thing lifts off your shoulders a bit. It's brilliant taking the piss out yourself, I use all the stupid things I do and say - and stick them in the play, at least they have a home then that isn't just shame on my shoulders. Let's laugh, at me or you, at anything, life is hard, for the Anacondas too, for everyone.