Reviews & features: Kids

Jungle Book: The Next Chapter

Monkeying around with Kipling’s classic

Rudyard Kipling’s fables are part of the collective national psyche, so this follow-up from Glenn Elston and the Australian Shakespeare Company has a lot to live up to. The story picks up when Mowgli, now grown, returns to the jungle to visit Baloo.

Tim and Light children's show all about playing games and puppets

Burton and Miyazaki-inspired puppetry at 2011 Edinburgh Festival

Tim and Light is the second children’s show from Tucked In, following 2007’s lauded Jackajack. In this adventure, which has been touring UK theatres and festivals this summer, a boy called Tim and his cat Light board a train from Brighton that doesn’t…

Giraffes Can't Dance

Uplifting story for little ones

With so many shows to choose from on the Fringe, parents have to be canny about what they take their young charges to. In recent years, the wise money has been spent on a ticket to see Blunderbus Theatre Company. Specialising in musical tales for…

Fringe for (around) a fiver: Kids

The affordable kids' shows appearing at the Fringe this year

Taking the whole family to a Fringe show can be an expensive business these days. So it pays to get out there early and soak up some previews. Here are just a few of the top shows that are charging £5 for their opening performances on 3-5 Aug.

Treasure Island

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…

CBeebies comedy duo Andy and Mike talk about their Tick Tock Time Machine

Comedy duo swap CBeebies for time travel

‘If you mix Back to the Future with The Mighty Boosh and Goonies, you get a glimpse of where we wanted to go,’ says CBeebies presenter Andy Day, co-star of Andy and Mike’s Tick Tock Time Machine. The follow-up to 2009’s Box of Bananas, this new show was…

Giraffes Can't Dance

Warm-hearted moral in the jungle

Most children’s theatre companies endeavor to make their young audiences feel at home – but Blunderbus always seem to go the extra mile. From the moment you enter the theatre, you feel welcomed. And, as the show unfolds, the cast regularly spill out…

Three Billy Goats Gruff

This is the third year in a row that the very wonderful Theatre of Widdershins has played the Fringe – and, rather appropriately, they’re doing a show all about threes: the eponymous goats, plus a few other fairytale characters such as Goldilocks’ pals…

The Mozart Question - Kids theatre

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Over the last couple of years, Fringe audiences have wept at his stories. Kelly Apter finds former Children’s Laureate Michael Morpurgo continuing that tearful trend with a sad tale from World War II Michael Morpurgo is standing on a sun-drenched…

James Campbell’s Onomatopoeia Society III and Spinistry of Moonerism

James Campbell is the guy that does stand-up comedy for kids, and has carved out a very nice niche for himself in entertaining the harshest critics on the planet.

Lauren St John at the Book Festival

Writing for a more honest and passionate reader

Remember those series of books you would read as a child? Remember how, when you discovered a new one, you’d just have to devour it as quickly as possible, gobbling up boarding-school tales of lacrosse and midnight feasts and adventure after adventure…

Penguin

Puppetry and song for young ‘uns

Opening a bright, shiny package, little boy Ben discovers a penguin inside. But joy quickly turns to disappointment when the flightless fellow refuses to speak. Various attempts at persuasion are made, including a trip to the doctors, to no avail, until…

Stick Man brings Julia Donaldson's children's book to life

Lively adaptation hits the spot

Julia Donaldson’s 2008 picture book, Stick Man isn’t the longest tale in the world, so anyone looking to adapt it would have to cast around for some pretty extensive padding. Leave it to the formidable Scamp Theatre to do just that. Performed by…

James Robertson - And the Land Lay Still

One of Scotland's most vital authors tackles our Q&A

James Robertson has been long-listed for the Man Booker Prize of 2006 for The Testament of Gideon Mack and has just published And The Land Lay Still.

5 questions: Kids show Tall Storrie and Wee Godley

Mother and daughter duo Ashley Storrie and Janey Godley

Glasgow comedy queen Janey Godley has pushed all her blue material aside to team up with daughter Ashley Storrie for their kids show Tall Storrie & Wee Godley. She tells us why we should go along. Give five reasons why people should come and see…

Charlie and Lola’s Best Bestest Play

Lauren Child’s sibling adventures hit the stage

Lauren Child’s hugely popular brother and sister duo burst off the page, out of the TV screen, and onto the stage! It had to happen sometime, and Watershed Productions seem to have done an interesting job with the whole 2D/3D challenge. Featuring some…

Horrible Histories - Barmy Britain

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…

Tiddler and Other Terrific Tales

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

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…

Andy and Mike’s Tick Tock Time Machine

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…

Dr Brown Brown Brown Brown Brown and his Singing Tiger

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…

Kipper Tie Theatre return to the Fringe 2012 with kids' show Our Island

Singaporean theatre and slapstick in show tackling xenophobia and religious intolerance

Best known for winning over Fringe audiences with their poo-centred hit show, The Mole Who Knew It Was None Of His Business, Kipper Tie Theatre are back in Edinburgh with a far more serious subject matter. Set in a mystery location, Our Island…

Revolting Rhymes

Lively rendition of Roald Dahl tales

The two performers at the helm of this manic hour may be young (one of them had just received their A Level results the day I saw them) but already they’ve honed considerable performance skills. Not only that, they’ve also amassed a considerable…

Darren Shan, Barry Hutchison and Alexander Gordon Smith talk horror

Creating terrifying tales for teenage readers at the EIBF

As far as groundings in the horror business go, young adult writer Barry Hutchison knew exactly what fear was from an early age. ‘I lived in a perpetual state of terror when I was a kid,’ says the Fort William-based creator of the Invisible Fiends…

Bagpuss

Stage adaptation that’s just about purrfect

In 2001, Bagpus came fourth in Channel 4’s 100 Greatest Kids’ TV Shows opinion poll – and for good reason. Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin’s 1970s programme had a warm simplicity that hooked you in with imaginative tales, then rocked you gently in its…