If you're looking for someone to inspire young minds to write creatively you couldn't be much better than poet, broadcaster and recording star, Murray Lachlan Young.

I've been invited along to Millfields Primary School in Wivenhoe essentially to have a chat about his latest show alongside Colchester's very own West End performer Joe Allen.

But there's also the added bonus of watching Murray extract creative snippets of pure gold from budding young writers.

The Mystery of the Raddlesham Mumps reflects Lachlan Young’s passion for sweeping, gothic and absurdly comic children’s poetry with ghosts, witches, fairy folk and a classic tussle between good and evil.

Murray says: "I've been in and around the area for about seven years now after I got married a local girl.

"Raddlesham came about when I was in this spooky place in Suffolk writing a piece about an escaped prisoner and at the same time there were helicopters overhead actually looking for a prisoner on the run.

"Then there's also the history of Sutton Hoo and the UFO sightings at Rendlesham.

"That's where the essence came from anyway. I've always wanted to add to the canon of rattling goode Gothic yarns, which in turn crossed the age boundaries appealing to younger people but also the child in adults.

"I took seven years to write in the end mainly because I lost a bit of confidence or probably just got lazy with it. I only finished the piece when I got a new agent and she asked me to send her all the stuff I'd got. I picked it up again and thought it was worth completing."

Published last year, even before the book came out, Murray had placed the verse in front of Wivenhoe-based theatre producer Matthew Linley to see what he thought of it.

Quite a lot as it turns out because The Mystery of the Raddlesham Mumps project has become just that, a bit of a project with not only the book but now a stage show, an album and incredibly a virtual reality experience.

The Mystery of the Raddlesham Mumps places young, innocent, curly-haired Crispin, at the centre of the story.

When our brave young hero, inherits his parents’ stately home, the eponymous Raddlesham Mumps, the seven-year-old begins a bizarre and entertaining voyage of discovery. With Kenilworth the ancient butler as his guide and confidant, over the course of 100 plus gripping stanzas, Crispin gradually learns the truth behind the untimely deaths of his deeply eccentric ancestors.

From bare-knuckle fighters and intrepid explorers to bell-bottomed hippies and Brit-pop clubbers, Murray takes the audience on an historical and hilarious rollercoaster of rhyme.

With a brilliant score by Arun Ghosh, a healthy dose of physical theatre and a huge dollop of silliness, the piece promises to make family audiences (whether for the play, the album or the interactive) laugh and shudder in equal measure.

Murray is an award winning, multi disciplinary writer spanning the worlds of poetry, theatre, film, music, lyrics and as much live performance as time will allow.

He is perhaps best known as the only poet to have ever signed a recording contract worth £1m back in the Nineties but these days he appears regularly on Radio 4, Radio 2 and is resident poet on BBC 6 Music.

His recent collection How Freakin' Zeitgeist are you was a number one best seller in the Amazon UK book charts.

Murray has also written for Shakespeare’s globe, The CERN institute in Switzerland and MTV USA while in 2015 Murray’s co adaptation of the critically acclaimed Dylan Thomas’ Under Milkwood movie directed by Kevin Allen and starring Rhys Ifans, was listed for the Best Foreign language Oscar.

Joining Murray on his latest adventure if Colchester actor Joe Allen, who over the last few years had had a rollercoaster of theatrical adventures from appearing in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on the West End to working with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford Upon Avon to getting a bit part in the smash hit film Mama Mia 2.

He says: "Funnily enough this is the first time I've actually worked locally so that's a huge bonus for me.

"I got in touch with Matthew after I went to see one of the Eastern Angles shows he was involved in and then he contacted me later about this show.

"He thought Murray and I would be a good pairing but was really looking for a musician or someone who could do a bit of clowning, of which I'm neither, but I went along to the audition and we all got on so well I was in.

"I can't wait, it's going to be an exciting and fun show to be working on. As soon as I read it I fell in love with the story."

As well as the chance to see the live show, each performance will be preceded by the opportunity to ‘play’ in the immersive world of Raddlesham Mumps.

Matthew explains: "That came about after starting a conversation with Essex University and the digital creatives there to find a way of exploring the world of the story.

"They've recreated the attic of Raddlesham Mumps, which will be available in the foyer of each theatre for people to delve into.

"It's a little like a prequel to the theatre piece but you don't need to do the VR to understand the show.

"Later this year a VR Oculus Go version will be released meaning people can listen to the story, see the story and interactively explore the story."

The Mystery of the Raddlesham Mumps is at the Lakeside Theatre, Essex University, on April 11 at 7pm and then again on April 12 at 3pm and 7pm.

For tickets go on-line at lakesidetheatre.org.uk