Kids
| 21 August 2011
If you see any show this Fringe, make sure it is Swamp Juice: to miss it would be a crying shame. Born of the exquisitely inventive mind of Canadian Jeff Achtem, this tale of swamp creatures and their mischievous schemes and escapades, is shadow puppetry like you’ve never seen it before. I challenge even the hardest bitten cynic not to find their inner child resurrected by an hour in Jeff’s company.
| 21 August 2011
Summoning up the twisted ghost of Struwwelpeter to the Pleasance Courtyard, Grisly Tales from Tumblewater is full of the kind of cheerfully bloody morality stories that are sure to delight children and adults alike.| 19 August 2011
Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories are exemplars of storytelling at its most magical for young children. It was with great joy, therefore, to witness Red Table Theatre’s delivery of four of the best-beloved stories with such enthusiasm and pleasure.
| 19 August 2011
This exciting theatre adaptation of Oliver Jeffers’ award-winning children’s book The Incredible Book Eating Boy is ravishing entertainment at its best. In five short minutes, you and your little one (more confident nippers can go in alone) are enveloped by the Black Box theatre and engrossed in the unfolding tale of a boy whose voracious appetite for books went a little too far.
| 08 August 2011
Returning for their third year to the Edinburgh Fringe, the List Operators, originally for adults, have recently turned their attentions to the family market. Combining visual puns and no-holds-barred toilet humour around the theme of ‘ComPOOters,’ the Ozzie duo provide a high-energy, fast-paced show that has the kiddies laughing out loud and the adults trying hard not to.
| 02 September 2010
Gomito Productions use plastic bags, rubbish, and some beautifully crafted puppets to create a magical world at the Hill Street Theatre. The Night Keeper is the story of Maggie, a little girl who is forced to visit the museum on her birthday. When her sister disappears into a bin, Maggie must follow, and she finds herself in a magical version of the museum where all the objects come to life, courtesy of the crazy Night Keeper who, like Maggie, loves to make things out of rubbish.
| 02 September 2010
With an audience comprising only five people (two children and their family), Phil Kay’s show gets off to a slow start. However, Phil Kay is clearly a lovely man with an abundance of energy who makes a commendable effort to entertain his intimate audience despite the clearly disappointing turnout.
| 20 August 2010
An hour flies by in the company of The List Operators, whose predilection for toilet humour and skirting the very edge of naughtiness goes down extremely well with the excited kids’ crowd their daytime slot attracts.
| 16 August 2010
Belt up Theatre offers its first production for a family audience with Octavia, a fairytale with a moral message, and the performance is so intriguing and inclusive that adults enjoy it just as much as toddlers.
| 13 August 2010
In search of his medium-sized bear, Ryan gets to the galaxy through the telescope, followed by guilt-ridden Stella, his older sister. We meet a colourful medley of characters, have a sing and dance, experience the sentiments of the storybook genre all whilst learning some rudimentary astrophysics.
| 13 August 2010
Sydney based theatre company Bell Shakespeare and best-selling Australian children’s author Andy Griffiths have created an unimaginative, clichéd travesty of one of Shakespeare’s classic Scottish texts – sadly three elements wasted which could potentially come together for a fringe show beautifully.
| 13 August 2010
It astonishes me that this is the first time Lynley Dodd’s Hairy Maclary range of books have been brought to life on the stage. A family favourite for over 25 years, the books created such characters as Bottomley Potts, covered in spots; Bitzer Maloney, all skinny and bony; Herculese Morse, as big as a horse – each with a kiddie-friendly rhyme to add fun and rhythm to bedtime stories.
| 11 August 2010
Any play that can make a ploughing contest dramatic and entertaining to children has to be something special. Michael Morpurgo's Farm Boy is an engaging sequel to his most popular work War Horse. | 09 August 2010
This show is a stage adaption of Julia Donaldson’s popular book about the healthy, handsome and happy stickman who lives in the forest with his stick lady love (it’s unclear whether sticks can get married) and stick children three.
| 09 August 2010
How does Patrick Monahan do it? As with last year, he has taken on the burden of two shows each day, one for children and one for older children.
| 06 August 2010
White engrosses us in the charming and imaginative world of Wrinkle and Cotton. How they got here, and why they are here is not explained; it’s one of those innocent states of unknowing unique to childhood. Adults tend to call these ideas ‘dystopian’, and like any good dystopia, something is amiss: Colour. If found, any trace of it is consigned to the Rubbish Bin. "Good," says Wrinkle each time a shade is eradicated.
| 05 August 2010
This is a show about meddling younger sisters, adept at creating mess and breaking their older sibling’s toys. Performed using puppets, Lola, the main centre of our attention, passes the time with ‘super cat’, magic performances and her imaginary friend, Soren. The show is split between Lola being told to tidy her room and Lola being told to go to bed.
All this – especially the demanding younger sibling – initially resonates, although only to an extent. It is perhaps unfair to criticise the themes of this play as clichéd (surely this isn’t the sort of thing that matters for a children’s performance?) but it would not be unreasonable to ask for more.
| 23 July 2010
Clowning about and playing the fool isn’t just for grown-ups at the festivals. Mark Fisher kids around with the best shows for children.THE AMAZING BUBBLE SHOW
C Too
5-30 August (not 17),
2.30pm & 1.30pm
The Amazing Bubble Man blows bubbles bigger, weirder and more beautiful than you ever thought possible.
ANIMAL ALPHABOAT
Pleasance Courtyard
15-22 August, 5pm
Entertaining poet John Hegley will be encouraging a bit of a singalong in this freewheeling afternoon of songs and stories.
ARABIAN NIGHTS
Scottish Storytelling Centre
7-30 August (not 8), 1pm
Puppet company Theatre of Widdershins routinely leaves Edinburgh with a clutch of five-star reviews, so expect visual delights in this retelling of the popular tales.
| 19 July 2010
Creativity is the name of the game when you’re working with kids, but if you’re short of ideas, they’ll always be happy to help, says Andrew Clover.Comedy is about being playful, and adults aren’t always ready for that. You have to butter them up first with a few jokes about IT. With kids, you just come out and shout: “All the boys, say “Hello Andrew” like you’re Buzz Lightyear!” and then 100 Buzz Lightyears roar back at you “Hello Andrew!” and you’re off.
My show is about telling kids The Seven Secrets of Storytelling. Secret Three is Put The Hero In Trouble, and I’m grateful to the school in Wandsworth, where a Year One shouted: “Then we must put YOU in trouble!!” All 400 of them then set eagerly to work, imagining the evil things they could do to me.
| 19 July 2010
A new show for 2-4-year-olds explores the wonder of change and the joy of colour.If you think the two-to-four-year-old market is as young as theatre gets, then think again. While Andy Manley has been rehearsing White for an audience of toddlers, he has been planning a second version of the show that will appeal to babies. You’ll have to wait until December to see that production – which, he says, will be more interactive and even less verbal – but, for now, anyone who has passed the grand old age of two will surely be delighted by a show that begins even before they get into the theatre.
More Articles...
- The Nightingale
- Fairy Liquid and the Burst Bubble... and Other Science Shows
- Acres of Circus Skills
- Jumping Mouse
- You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown
- Sleeping Beauty and the Time Lords
- Lighter Than Air
- The Princess’ Blankets
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
- Dude Where’s My Teddy Bear?
- Tixi & Moxo – A Colourful Adventure
- Piff-Tacular
- Lost World
- The BFG
- Rapunzel and the Tower of Doom
- Giraffes Can’t Dance
- Patrick Monahan’s Stories and Fables for Kids that like to sit at Tables
- Mildly Terrible Revenge of the Slightly Evil Brainwashing Puppets
- Beauty and the Beast
- Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes
- Patrick Monahan
- Paper Cinema
