Reviews & features: Kelly Apter

Ta Daaa!

Clowns with magic skills that are no joke

It takes a few minutes to really get the measure of Frehd Astarr and Tim Eee Presley, but once you do, you want them for your best friends. Claiming to be aged eight and ten respectively, Frehd and Tim are dressed in full clown regalia, including big…

Leigh Warren + Dancers - Breathe/Impulse

The choreographer bringing his 'group of individuals' to Edinburgh International Festival

In some dance companies you have soloists and principals, in others everybody is on the same level. But rarely are company members described as ‘a group of individual dance artists’, as they are on the Leigh Warren website. When he started his company…

Richard Herring - Talking Cock

Intelligent chat, with knobs on

’There was a clue in the title,’ Richard Herring points out, as one man heads for the exit ten minutes into the show. There was indeed, because all Herring does in this funny, educational and surprisingly touching hour, is talk about cock. Compared…

Paperbelle

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…

Giddy Goat

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…

Batsheva Dance Company: Hora

Learning the new language of dance

For most of us, the word ‘gaga’ means one of two things: an anthemic, hands-in-the-air Queen song, or a peroxide blonde dressed in meat. At Batsheva Dance Company in Tel Aviv, however, it has a whole other meaning. The brainchild of Israeli artistic…

Russia's Mariinsky Ballet bring Cinderella to Edinburgh International Festival

Five reasons why you shouldn't miss it

The company You might know them as the Kirov, but back home they’re called the Mariinsky Ballet, and this St Petersburg-based troupe is widely recognised as being one of the finest classical ballet companies in the world. The choreographer A former…

Sergio Diaz of Ballet Preljocaj discusses the company's performances at EIF

The Edinburgh International Festival is hosting three pieces from the acclaimed French company

It’s lunchtime at Ballet Preljocaj’s headquarters in Aix en Provence, and dancer Sergio Diaz is taking a well-earned break. A few moments earlier, he and the rest of the company were rehearsing And then, one thousand years of peace, an extraordinary new…

Aditi Mangaldas reinventing Kathak dance at Edinburgh International Festival

‘It’s interesting and challenging for me to explore the unknown,’ says Aditi Mangaldas, on the phone from her company’s base in New Delhi. Which is exactly what the Indian choreographer has been doing for the past 21 years, since the formation of the…

Collision

Dance floor mash-up from Lite Fantastic, the company behind Prodigy dance show Prodigious

Promising us a show where ‘styles collide’, London-based dance company Lite Fantastic is as good as its word. In one routine, performed to the Labrinth/Tinie Tempah track ‘Earthquake’, a couple starts off ballroom dancing, moves into breakdancing and…

Lapin Wants Ice Cream

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…

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…

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…

The Snail and the Whale

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…

Mephisto Waltz

Derevo's surreal show of devil pact is success but lacks emotional tie-in

You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs, and it would seem you can’t make a Derevo show without making an inordinate amount of mess. By the time the five performers step forward to take their well-earned bow, the stage is littered with more…

Watch it!

Small-screen addiction writ large with dance, theatre and visual trickery

Watching too much television is bad for you. This is not a new piece of information, the psychology behind why has been well documented. But if people only created shows about new subject matters, there’d be a lot of empty stages, so we can’t really…

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…

Superjohn

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…

The Ugly Duckling

Kipper Tie Theatre's charming show proves beauty’s only skin deep

There are some valuable lessons to be learned in this simple yet effective show by Kipper Tie Theatre. Namely that being brave, imaginative and clever is a whole lot more important than being beautiful. Performers Bernie Byrnes and Sally Lofthouse…

Top 5 international dance shows at Fringe 2012

Featuring Latin Live, Hi-Kick, Mother Africa, Rhythmic Circus and Knee Deep

Latin Live The team that brought you Brazil! Brazil! are back, with another hot and steamy show that mixes Latin rhythms, sensational vocals and the kind of dancing they don’t teach you at Sunday school. Assembly Rooms, 0844 693 3008, until 26 Aug…

Top 5 music shows for kids at Fringe 2012

Featuring The BIG Sing-a-long, Flamenco for Kids, Sesame Street and Music Bugs

The BIG Sing-a-long! Back for their third Fringe running, the BIG Project’s Children’s Choir invite you to join in with chart hits and musical mash-ups. St Mark’s artSpace, 228 1155, 4 Aug, 2pm, £6 (£4–£5). Flamenco for Kids Warm up your hands…

Irish dance company Up & Over It put a fresh spin on the Riverdance template for Fringe 2012

Appeals to both Riverdance lovers and haters

They learned the steps, won the medals, and stood in line with all the other good Riverdance boys and girls. Then one day, Suzanne Cleary and Peter Harding decided to break out from that line and do it their way, and Up & Over It was born. Taking an…

Scamp Theatre bring Tiddler and Other Terrific Tales to life at Fringe 2012

Stage version of hugely successful Julia Donaldson children's book

With so many shows to choose from at the Fringe, it’s always handy when a tried and tested company returns carrying a guarantee of quality. All those who saw Scamp Theatre’s production of Stick Man in 2010 will be pleased to know that the talented…

National Folk Theatre of Ireland to perform What the Folk! at Fringe 2012

The company merge dance with storytelling in intimate locations

Based in Tralee in County Kerry, the National Folk Theatre of Ireland is keeping traditions alive, by looking to the future. Training performers in music, dance, theatre and song from a young age, it ensures there’s always a new crop of talent rising…