Kids
| 30 August 2009
The Bongo Club
22-29 August 12.40
I really feel that I saw this show in an unfair light. I did not particularly enjoy it but the cast were almost crippled by the absence of children within the audience. Thus I must commend the three main characters for maintaining their bounce as they were smiley, energetic and noisy throughout the play.
| 27 August 2009
Zoo @ 140 The Pleasance
7-31 August, 11.00
James Soper, the man behind Fairy Liquid and the Burst Bubble, has had an unusual career path. He started out as a circus performer in his early days, before becoming a scientist, and then finally a teacher. Ingeniously, he has decided to merge his diverse talents to create a show that entertains as well as educates his young audience.
| 26 August 2009
Royal Botanical Gardens
16- 22 August, 13.00
I really wish I could have enjoyed this show, and blame the poor rating on the forced change of venue due to the weather, but I found myself flinching so much that I had to leave it prematurely.
| 24 August 2009
Pleasance Courtyard
5-31 August (ex.17) 11.30
This show made me wish I had children. Well, offer to babysit some children so as to take them to see this show. To put it simply, it was wonderful.
| 24 August 2009
The Church Hill Theatre
21-25 August (ex.24) various showings.
Snoopy: a six foot adolescent dressed in a white tracksuit with black ears clipped onto a baseball cap. No No No NO NO NO!!!! Or as Linus would say “I can’t take it!”, and I really could not. Despite the best of intentions and neon smiles by the members of the Tri-School Theatre, the beauty of the ‘Peanuts’ characters lies in the sketchy doodles of Charles M Schulz’s comic strips.
| 20 August 2009
Spotlights @ The Merchants Hall
5–31 August, 13.30
Sleeping Beauty’s modern roots grew from the minds of the brothers Grimm. It was a tale thick with medieval nostalgia, murky forests and magic. More recently, as the Shrek series of films has highlighted, traditional tales have been adapted for more savvy and culturally clued up children.
| 19 August 2009
Pleasance Courtyard
5-30 August (ex. 17,24) 11.30
It is easy to see why children can become mesmerised by balloons, especially if they are ten times their normal size. In this show, Danny Schlesinger exhausts the comic potential of balloons, rolling them down his arm, balancing them on his nose and even constructing a giant balloon dog, Poppy, complete with balloon poo.
| 18 August 2009
Scottish Story Telling Centre
15–24 August, 13.00
When Carol Ann Duffy became poet laureate, Ian Hislop presented a programme on BBC 4 about the history of the position. ‘The Changing of the Bard’ did not present a very endearing tale of the holders of the position throughout British history.
| 17 August 2009
The Zoo
18-22 August, 11.15
Oh the magic that ensues when a sunrise can don ballet shoes and dance away the darkness.
| 16 August 2009
Pleasance Dome
5 – 31 August (ex 17) 10:30
Max has lost his Teddy Bear. Silly Max. He’s looked here and he’s looked there, but can’t seem to find it anywhere. Oh Dear. Max has also woken up in his clothes and can’t even remember what he was doing the night before. Naughty Max.
| 15 August 2009
The Space on The Mile @ The Radisson
7-29 August, 10.30
An Italian girl is off school, sick. She attempts some English homework. It’s too tricky, so like any Scottish school girl she resorts to the favourite faces of her colouring-in book. Suddenly, the (not-quite-finished-with-white-patches) Tixi appears in living flesh, befriending the forlorn Gusoberta. And not long after, low and behold, a four-armed Moxo (also, white-patched) comes into being. Promising...
| 14 August 2009
Laughing Horse @ The Hive
Free Fringe
6-30 August (ex.17) 18:00
Over rehearsed, a frozen smile, a dusty hat – the stereotypical image of a magician from a children’s party perhaps, but some memories are hard to shake. So when I first heard of Piff the Magic Dragon – a man dressed head to foot in a dragon costume performing essentially the same tricks that impressed me as a child, I thought: over rehearsed, a frozen smile, and a dusty tail.
| 14 August 2009
Scottish Storytelling Centre
12-31 August (ex.18,25) 15:30
Although adapted from the same book, this version of Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel ‘The Lost World’ differs greatly from Jurassic Park.
| 11 August 2009
Augustine’s @ 41 George IV Bridge
10-14 August 10:00
Having chosen Roald Dahl’s much loved children’s classic for this year’s Fringe tour, the thespians of Bishop Grosseteste University College (‘Fringe Sell Out’ 2008) were performing to an already captive audience. Yet these imaginative students were not satisfied with a stock rendition, and instead, delivered their adaptation with refreshing and entertaining thoughtfulness.
| 11 August 2009
The Scottish Story Telling Centre @ 43-45 High Street
7-30 August, 11:00
Andy Lawrence’s performance brings to life an old tale in a way entertaining enough for both children and their parents alike, even throwing in a few puns and jokes for the older members of the audience.
| 11 August 2009
The Spaces @ Royal Hall of Surgeons
7-29 August (ex. 16) 10.35
Blunderbus Theatre Company is bringing to life poet Giles Andreae’s tale of the not so nimble footed Gerald the Giraffe in a heartening new musical play aimed at 4-7 year olds.
Beautiful handcrafted puppets and giant multi-operator body puppets allow the audience to suspend their disbelief as they are taken into the jungle for the annual jungle dance.
| 10 August 2009
Gilded Balloon Teviot
7–30 August (ex. 17), 13.30
It’s surely a sign of an accomplished comedian when they can have both adults and children in stitches at the same time. Monahan, through a mixture of wit, slap stick, and surrealism manages this feat.
| 09 August 2009
Laughing Horse @ The Newsroom
8-16,22-23,29-30 August, 11:15
Note to wary parents: it's not as scary as it sounds.
These puppets are simply annoyed that someone's hand is up their backside; someone who cares not that maybe they don't want to be forced to kiss each other and speak in ridiculous voices. These puppets have had enough.
| 08 August 2009
The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons
7-22 August (ex. 9,16) 11.05
‘Beauty and the Beast’ is a performance of a modified version of the traditional story. It is aimed predominantly at children. The story is told by Jack Crow who plays all the characters and narrates from a small stage very close to the audience whom he addresses directly.
| 07 August 2009
Pleasance Courtyard, 5-31 August (ex. 17, 24) 12.30
“I guess you think you know this story.
You don't. The real one's much more gory.”
In true Roald Dahl fashion, Clewis Productions – two delumptious gentlemen from the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre – will have you and your children gripped from the offset; bringing to life the much loved characters of Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes and Dirty Beasts books.
