Reviews & features: Kelly Apter

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…

Bubblewrap and Boxes turns cardboard boxes into children's show

Playing around with the post at 2011 Edinburgh Festival

As any young child will tell you, there’s no end of things you can do with a cardboard box. Melbourne-based theatre company Asking For Trouble discovered it too, when they turned a pile of unwanted boxes into packages and parcels to create award-winning…

Christos Tsiolkas' The Slap touched a few raw nerves

He tells us how he tackled this multi-story tale.

Judge me once you’ve walked a mile in my shoes, the old saying goes. Well in his latest book, The Slap, Christos Tsiolkas hands us the literary equivalent of eight pairs of walking boots. Set in suburban Melbourne, the novel opens with a chapter devoted…

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…

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…

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…

Children's theatre at the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe for a fiver

2012 Edinburgh Festival offers a host of great-value kids show previews

Various venues, Edinburgh, 1–3 Aug Each year, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe has more and more shows to tempt families. From theatre pieces to circus shows, you could easily spend three weeks (and a month’s salary) straddling the good-taste line…

The Wheel

Innocence lost in war-torn Spain

When we think about war, it is the civilian casualties or soldiers who lose their lives we remember. The children whose innocence is stripped from them, observing the horrors that surround a war zone rarely, if ever, get a mention. In the west, we worry…

Jacqueline Wilson's Secret Diary

The Dame discusses writing, technology and her adolescent self

The idea of a total stranger leafing through your diary would mortify most teenagers. Having left behind those angst-ridden years some time ago, however, Jacqueline Wilson is ready to lift the lid on her adolescent hopes and fears. A hormonally-charged…

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…

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…

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…

Hurry Up and Wait

Clown show that fails to live up to potential

With a parade due any minute, two friends are forced to wait patiently for its arrival. Their stools sit either side of a giant clock – an ever-present reminder that time is passing just too slowly. In a bid to speed it up, these colourful characters…

Cloud Man combines puppetry and storytelling for 4-7-year-olds

Edinburgh Festival children's theatre show based on clouds

Sometimes they’re white and fluffy, more often than not they’re full of rain - but there’s something about clouds that holds our interest. The latest in a long line of artists to be inspired by the natural phenomenon is puppeteer Ailie Cohen, with her…

Dr Bunhead is Volcano Head

Wouldn’t it be great if all science teachers were like Dr Bunhead? Surely there’s room on the new curriculum for setting fire to your head, blowing up vegetables and creating anti-gravity poo. No? Oh well, you’ll have to make do with a brief date with…

Pina Bausch’s Tanztheater Wuppertal

The late great choreographer Pina Bausch lives on through her work and company, as the dancers of Germany’s Tanztheater Wuppertal arrive in Edinburgh to perform Água. Inspired by Bausch’s time in Brazil, the work is filled with striking video images…

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…

Charlie and Lola's Best Bestest Play

TV siblings take the the stage: utterly charming and engaging

When you’re taking a product as insanely successful as Lauren Child’s Charlie and Lola series and attempting to do something new, it can be a risky business. Both the books and the TV programmes have garnered millions of fans, some of whom sat…

Breakdance and Streetdance Championships at the Fringe

Peter Maniam of Moving in Circles on dance competitions

5 things you love about breakdancing. The physicality – B-Boys and Girls push their bodies to the extreme, with nothing more than their own physical ability, blood, sweat and tears; the controversy – breaking has no governing body so judges rely on…

Festival collaboration unites Alonzo King Lines Ballet with Zakir Hussain

EIF show fuses Indian classical music and contemporary American ballet

Zakir Hussain was always destined for musical greatness: one look at his childhood bedtime routine will tell you that. For years he would come home from school and go straight to sleep, only to be awakened by his father at midnight to rehearse through…

Plane Food Cafe

Living the high life down low

As the years pass by, and all the various Fringe shows you have seen begin to blend into one, very few will have the power to stand out in your memory. But this one will. Despite being in the Theatre section of the Fringe programme, Plane Food Café is…

Steve Reich Evening

Music and dance pioneers in perfect harmony

She's one of the most prominent names in European contemporary dance, he's a giant of American minimalist music. Together, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Steve Reich make quite a pair - although their partnership is a result of admiration, rather than…

Cloudcuckooland

When Greek comic playwright, Aristophanes wrote The Birds in 414 BC, he could scarcely have imagined where his masterpiece would end up. Although given his taste for humour and bad behaviour, chances are he would have loved Cloudcuckooland, a new…

Obong

Celebration of Nigerian music and dance

It’s easy to lump African dance together into one big melting pot of bright costumes and tribal drums. In reality, not only does each country have a distinct style, so too does each region within it. Hailing from Cross River State in Nigeria, the Obong…