Reviews & features: Kids
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Paperbelle
20 Aug 2012
Imaginative fun for the very young
Creating a show that straddles the fine line between engaging a pre-schooler, and not scaring them, isn’t easy. Harder still to capture the imagination of the grown-up whose lap they’re sitting on or next to. Yet with this delicate, sweet and funny…
Boris and Sergey’s Vaudevillian Adventure
20 Aug 2012
Droll and bawdy puppet double act
Droll and bawdy puppet double act Nothing covers cracks like cuteness. Boris and Sergey are two faceless leather bunraku puppets that look like reconstituted old footballs sprung to life. They speak in gravelly Russian honks and have more than enough…
Giddy Goat
20 Aug 2012
Hilltop musical fails to scale the heights
Growing up on a mountain side, the eponymous goat is too young and timid to jump off a rock, until he’s called upon to rescue a stranded sheep, and discovers his hero within. Jamie Rix’s picture book adapts well for the stage, and there’s certainly no…
Children's shows from Scotland at 2012 Edinburgh Festival Fringe
19 Aug 2012
Shows from Catherine Wheels, Frozen Charlotte, Le Petit Monde and more
It’s great to have so many visiting companies at the Fringe, but just for a moment, we’re going to celebrate the home-grown Scottish talent right on our doorstep The Ballad of Pondlife McGurk One of Scotland’s finest children’s theatre companies…
The Golden Cowpat
17 Aug 2012
Lo-fi Jackanory with ukulele-to-blues soundscape
Farmer Hector has fallen on hard times. The pigs and geese have been sold, his once robust vegetables are puny and small. Salvation comes from the rear end of a cow. Betty, an ornery beast much given to tipping her herd-mates, produces 24-carat…
Circus in Hand
17 Aug 2012
Hand made circus puppetry with a human touch
There can’t be many circuses at the Fringe where you can behold a ringmaster standing on a giraffe’s head or a tap-dancing zebra. But then there can’t be many circuses at all where the performers are made from neat slices of stretchy fabric, adorably…
Horrible Histories - Barmy Britain
12 Aug 2012
Gruesomely entertaining alternative history lesson
The history of these islands is littered with enough corpses to fill a month’s worth of Fringe shows, so hats off to Birmingham Stage Company for managing to pack so much blood and gore into a bare hour. Terry Deary’s deliciously gruesome book…
Lapin Wants Ice Cream
11 Aug 2012
Puppets on the beach à la Française
With a pre-schooler’s brain bearing a remarkable resemblance to a sponge, it’s the perfect time to introduce a foreign language to them. Tania Czajka knows this, and has created a cast of fun characters to deliver the message. Holidaying on the beach…
The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppets
10 Aug 2012
Five things about 2012 Edinburgh show Boo Lingerie!
1. What 5 things should everybody know about you? ‘That we are not a kids show! Except that, this year, we are also doing a kids show; that we are also doing our brand new show of songs, sketches, socks and violence at 10.40 at night; that this is our…
Edinburgh International Book Festival: Top 5 Kids events
10 Aug 2012
Patrick Ness, Michael Morpurgo, Louise Rennison, Doctor Who and more
Patrick Ness With A Monster Calls, Ness is cementing his already burgeoning reputation as a must-read author for the 12-16 group. When this book about a boy dealing with his mother’s battle against cancer won him the Carnegie Medal, Ness said the…
Freedom Family Circus
10 Aug 2012
Straight-up circus makes up for wobbles with warmth
This sunny-demeanoured circus troupe hail from various parts of the USA and Chile, and have apparently only been performing as a complete line-up for around six days. Which could explain a few of the hiccups in their acts: juggling balls and skittles…
Treasure Island
10 Aug 2012
Comedy on the seven seas
There’s nothing groundbreaking about this new show from Derby’s Uncontained Arts. But sometimes it’s OK to just tell it like it is, and Treasure Island has enough unusual characters and exciting plot developments for them to get away with it. Building…
Tiddler and Other Terrific Tales
10 Aug 2012
Julia Donaldson over-kill
Scamp Theatre’s 2011 adaptation of Stick Man was a skilful blend of lively storytelling, great songs and playful actors. They did Julia Donaldson proud. So it comes as something of a disappointment to see what they’ve done with Tiddler. As you would…
The Machine
10 Aug 2012
Fun show with subtle green message
This is no clever title – there really is a machine in this new show from Little Cauliflower theatre company, and what a machine it is. Occupying a large space in the middle of the stage, the eponymous equipment has clearly been months in the…
The Snail and the Whale
7 Aug 2012
Tall Stories' Donaldson adaption is imaginative and heartfelt
Tall Stories are no strangers to the inside of a Julia Donaldson picture book, having made their name on the children’s theatre circuit with The Gruffalo over ten years ago. Since then, they’ve tackled The Gruffalo’s Child and Room on the Broom, and…
Petya and the Wolf
7 Aug 2012
Childlike in chaotic naiivety but enough depth to entertain all
Two Russian actors present this idiosyncratic physical retelling of the familiar tale of how Peter outsmarts the hungry wolf, soundtracked by a recording of the Prokofiev score with English narration. Although the story is simple enough for all ages to…
Kaput
7 Aug 2012
Choreographed mayhem was never this beautiful
If Billy the Mime is channelling the likes of Neil Hamburger and Denis Leary (early 90s non-bouffant version) in his celebrity scandal-fixated show, Tom Flanagan is tapping straight back into the golden era of silent comedy for his child-friendly show.
The Beast
7 Aug 2012
With uke and loop pedal Bowden commands a spellbound crowd
Stuart Bowden wants to tell you a story about a beast. His name is Winslow and he lives on the edge of town, just a short helicopter ride away if you happen to have a helicopter. Winslow is a little awkward and a little lonely, one of his prized…
Mil's Trills Music and Stories
7 Aug 2012
Merrily chaotic exploration of musical instruments
Never mind the kids. If you’re brave enough to lay out a big pile of shakers, tambourines and ukuleles in the front row of a Fringe space, it’s the grown-ups you’ll need to hold back. A happy rhythmic jangle is already well-established before Amelia…
Andy and Mike’s Tick Tock Time Machine
7 Aug 2012
Back to the Future meets Bill and Ted in show that'll tickle all
Although it’s probably fair to say that few, if any, of the youngsters sitting in this audience have ever heard of Back to the Future or Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, it’s a fairly safe bet their parents have. The laughs produced by the various…
The Girl With No Heart
6 Aug 2012
Children's storybook on loss of innocence fails to come to life
The Girl with No Heart is based on a short story book written by performer Louisa Ashton. A children’s parable about the loss of innocence, Sparkle and Dark’s Travelling Players use puppetry, silhouettes and origami to narrate the tale of a girl who…
Crate Digging: Lenny Love
4 Aug 2012
Baby Loves Disco's superstar DJ tells us what gets the toddlers' toes tapping
Baby Loves Disco is certainly one of the more unusual gigs that I do, and it’s actually a bit of a misnomer because it’s really a club for adults – albeit with young children in tow. I can’t exclude The Trammps’ ‘Disco Inferno’ (Atlantic), it’s an…
Dr Brown Brown Brown Brown Brown and his Singing Tiger
4 Aug 2012
Mighty Boosh-style physical comedy for quirky kids
An unassuming chap in a tiger-striped onesie plucks a ukelele. On the corner of the stage, a giant laundry bag is moving. From its depths emerges a pink woolly hat then safety goggles and a bushy beard. Jacket, tie, then very short white shorts and…
Five questions for kids' theatre company Purves Puppets
4 Aug 2012
The company behind Pips and Panda tell us about their 26 years on the Fringe
1. This is your 26th year on the Fringe – what keeps you coming back? ‘There’s a special holiday atmosphere unique to Edinburgh, and families are already excited when they arrive. Even the kids have often seen a lot of theatre. They expect – and they…
Superjohn
4 Aug 2012
Plucky superhero fights for survival in sensitively-portrayed kids' theatre show
Creating a show about a child in need of a bone marrow transplant was never going to be easy. It’s a subject most children don’t really understand, and parents don’t want to think about. It’s part of life, however, and if you’re going to tackle such…
