Tag Archives: Children’s Theatre

Review – Susie and the Story Shredder

Dublin Fringe

Project Arts Centre

09/09/18

Originally published on The Reviews Hub

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Imagine a world without stories, a world where stories were banned by law. In the kingdom of Levitas, that is exactly the case; spoiled King Levi outlawed stories after he found it too difficult to write his own. If he couldn’t enjoy writing stories, then no-one else could either. But, of course, it is not that easy to stop a child’s imagination and so King Levi employed story destroyers to get rid of the stories written by rebellious children.

Bombinate Theatre’s Susie and the Story Shredder tells the story (Yes, the story! Thankfully King Levi’s laws don’t apply in Dublin) of one such story destroyer, Susie, and her trusty mechanical companion, Shredder. Susie is one of the kingdom’s best story destroyers; she has even created a new invention, which she can’t wait to present to the king. The show follows Susie’s story as she realises that maybe stories are not as dangerous as King Levi suggested.

Mollie Molumby and Ursula McGinn’s script is sparklingly funny, and a charming celebration of creativity. Pause for a second and think of every pun on the word ‘shred’ that you can. Done that? McGinn and Molumby have thought of at least three more.  Matthew Malone and Clodagh Mooney Duggan bring the script to life with enthusiasm, and a dash of mischief, knowing exactly when to look to the audience for a reaction and handling moments of audience interaction with skill and energy. Add to this an amusing sound design by Michael-David McKernan, an enormous and endearing Shredder designed by Johann Fitzpatrick, and some shadow puppetry from Emily Collins and Tales From the Shadows, and you have a delightful storybook world on stage.

Both silly and insightful, Susie and the Story Shredder draws the audience in, makes us laugh, and reminds us of the power of a bright imagination.

Runs until 16 September 2018 | Image: Contributed

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Review – Shhh…The Elves Are Very Shy

Botanic Gardens

07/08/18

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Elves are very shy, but if you know what to do and where to look you might be able to find evidence of elves, or even a real life elf. In Shhh…The Elves Are Very Shy, Elfologist Dr. Faye Greenwood takes to the stage to teach her audience all about elves, and perhaps even introduce a few of her elvin friends. This piece of theatre for the littlest audience members and their families is a delightful multisensory experience that is accessible to all ages.

Using four facts about elves as a structure for the performance, writer and performer Charlotte Allan brings her audience on an exploration of all things elvish. We learn that elves love red things, making and dancing, and really don’t like iron. As Allan explores each of the facts with her audience, she creates an interactive multisensory space for all of her young audience members to get involved in. Whether it is making a red dotty shape, offering suggestions, enjoying the coloured scarves and other objects that are handed around, or featuring in the charming improvised song that Dr. Greenwood sings to try to persuade the elves to come out, there is a way for every audience member to get involved. Allan demonstrates a real skill for involving her audience in the story, and giving each child enough attention while still moving the narrative forward.

Though there is a text-basis for the show, language is not necessary to enjoy it as there is a strong multisensory element to the show. Allan creates signs to go along with certain key words in the show, provides pictures, plays music, hands around props, and ensures that there is no need to understand the text to understand the show. The final section of the show, the much anticipated appearance of the elves is beautifully done, with a screen in a box showing a video of the elves and giving the impression that there are actually elves in the box. Dr. Faye Greenwood drops objects into the box, and they appear in the video, perfectly in sync. This innovation and precision is an exciting and charming example of how technology can be used to create magic on stage.

In the perfect setting of the Botanic Gardens (where Dr. Greenwood has collected a number of examples of elf activity), Shhh…The Elves Are Very Shy is a beautiful piece of interactive theatre that will delight young audiences.

Shhh…The Elves Are Very Shy runs at the Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, until August 26th as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Review -Big Trouble in Little Monkey’s Daycare

The Space on the Mile

06/08/18

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Something is not right at Little Monkey’s Daycare, and little Tommy, a four-and-a-half year old private investigator, is going to get to the bottom of it. This production from Newcastle University Theatre Society is a sort of backwards Bugsy Malone with the toddlers played by adults, to great comic effect. The writing and performances play to all of the classic tropes; as the characters chew on their candy cigarettes, nurse their Angel Delight hangovers and deal in curly straws, an hilarious twist on the classic gangster story is established. As Tommy and his sidekick Bobby investigate why their classmates are vanishing with a mystery illness, there are comic moments for both children and adults in the audience alike.

The production has an air of the rough and ready about it, but that often add to the humour in the piece rather than detracting from it. Similarly, the dubious, hammed-up New Yoihk accents provide many laughs, though lines are sometimes lost to them. Overall the performances are mixed, with some portraying the toddler gangsters adeptly, with sharp comic timing, and others over-acting theirs. The way in which the children are portrayed, combined with the references to old gangster films, raises the question of who the production is aimed at. Though it is billed as being suitable for all ages, and there are comic moments that would appeal to both adults and children, Big Trouble at Little Monkey’s Daycare seems more like a play about children for adults than a piece of theatre for children.

Big Trouble at Little Monkey’s Daycare is an unpolished but entertaining story of choc-ice crime and chickenpox.

Review – Opera Mouse

Pleasance Courtyard

06/08/18

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When you’re a human, you can be pretty much anything you want to be when you grow up – a fire-fighter, a zoologist, a writer, an opera singer. But if you’re a mouse that’s a little more difficult. Opera Mouse, written by Melanie Gall and performed by Melanie Gall and Eden Ballantyne, tells the story of little Tilly Mouse who hears an opera performance through a gap in the theatre wall and is so enchanted by it that she resolves to become an opera singer. However, her animal friends insist that mice can’t sing (they obviously never watched Babe), and any humans she meets scream when they see her. Despite this, Tilly Mouse perseveres in this charming story of a little mouse determined to follow her big dreams.

As Gall and Ballantyne tell Tilly’s story using puppetry, storytelling and song, they introduce their young audience to opera in a simple, accessible way. Gall, an opera singer herself, explains what an opera is, and suggests some of the work that goes into the artform by telling the audience about Tilly’s practice and hard work to become an opera singer. Interspersing the story with snippets of some famous operatic works, Gall and Ballantyne create a delightful and entertaining introduction to an art-form that would not usually be associated with audiences of eager, giggling children!

Both Gall and Ballantyne are skilled performers in their own genres, with Gall’s beautiful musical performance entrancing her listeners, and Ballantyne’s engaging storytelling creating a strong connection with the audience throughout.

Opera Mouse is a sweet and entertaining introduction to opera, that reminds the children (and adults, and mice) in the audience that it is always worth chasing your dreams, because they may just come true!

Opera Mouse runs at Pleasance Courtyard until 27th August as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Review – Finding Peter

Theatre N16 & Eastlake Productions

Gilded Balloon Teviot

06/08/18

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The Darling children never forgot their time in Neverland and so, when Tinkerbell flies through their window one night to tell them that Peter Pan is in trouble, they grab the opportunity to follow the second star to the right and fly straight on till morning.  Telling a story of rescuing Peter Pan from a pirate kidnapper, Finding Peter has the elements of an exciting and engaging show, but does not tie them together.

The performances, from James Tobin, Jessica Arden and Jenny Wilford, who double up to play all of the characters, often favour volume and ostensibly child-like voices over a connection with their audience. The production demands a certain level of interaction with the audience, asking them questions, and getting them to sprinkle fairy dust and think happy thoughts. However, it often feels that the performers are speaking at the children in the audience rather than to them, once again costing them that all important connection with their audience.

Alongside this, though the performances suggest that they are simplifying things for the younger members of the audience (or at least speaking them slowly and loudly), the script, written by Frankie Meredith, flits between over simplifying some elements and using phrases and words that much of the audience may not understand. Delivering lines that use difficult language in the voice used to talk to babies and toddlers does not make them accessible, rather it risks alienating an audience.

The nugget of the idea behind this show had promise, and the plot was fun and exciting, but the writing and performances left it short. Finding Peter could be a strong show, if the tone and language were more accurately pitched at its young audience.

Finding Peter runs at Underbelly Bristo Square until 27th August as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Review – Ellie and the Enormous Sneeze

Assembly Roxy

05/08/18

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Nine year old Ellie longs for adventure, as any nine year-old should, but her aunt is too worried to let her. She worries that if Ellie goes exploring their little brown town, something terrible might happen. But even curious little Ellie couldn’t get into any adventures going to borrow a cup of sugar from a neighbour could she? When her worried auntie sends her next door to do just that, however, Ellie proves that she can find an adventure anywhere.

After cycling off on her bike, Ellie spots something in the distance, a house, and it looks like it is on fire! She cycles out of the town and up the hill to investigate. When she enters the house, which is not on fire, she meets Stanley, an old man who cannot sneeze. With the help of some chocolate pudding and a long list, Ellie sets out to try 1000 ways to trigger a sneeze.

Mouths of Lions create an energetic and charming production that reminds us of the importance of friendship and helping each other. The three performers deliver enthusiastic and considered performances, perfectly pitched towards the age of their audience. Louise Dickenson is an hilariously highly-strung Aunt Tracy, knowing exactly how far she can push her wails and panicked babbling to keep her audience laughing.  Both Oliver Weatherly as Stanley and Shea Wojtus as Ellie balance silliness with sweetness, creating a space for the audience to laugh, and to see the messages of friendship within the story. Adding to this, Tom Crosely-Thorne’s compositions bring a further layer of energy and storytelling to the piece.

Ellie and the Enormous Sneeze is a funny, well-thought out production filled with bogeys and dreams.

Ellie and the Enormous Sneeze runs at Assembly Roxy until 27th August as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

 

Review – An Elephant in the Garden

Dairy Room – Underbelly Bristo Square

05/08/18

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Based on Michael Morpurgo’s 2009 novel of the same name, An Elephant in the Garden is an enchanting and moving one-woman show, performed by Alison Reid. Set around the 1945 Dresden bombing, this production tells the story of our narrator, Lizzie, as she embarks on the long walk from Dresden to seek refuge with American troops with her mother, and Marlene, an elephant.

Perhaps I should explain the elephant before I continue? Marlene (named after Marlene Dietrich) was in Dresden Zoo where Lizzie’s mother worked and, when the bombings happened, was to be shot along with all of the other animals to prevent them from running wild across the city. Rather than let that happen, Lizzie’s mother adopts the elephant and brings her to live in their back garden, and so we find ourselves with a steady stalwart elephant friend who plods through the story, acting as its spine, drawing the characters forward alongside her, and provides a memorable metaphor for persistence, care and humanity.

An Elephant in the Garden is, at face value, a beautiful feat of storytelling, but as we get further into the story another important note shines through.  As Lizzie’s uncle argues in support of the rise of the Nazi party in Germany, it is difficult to avoid the parallels to some of the arguments of the 21st Century far-right. Similarly, as Lizzie discusses their journey, the portions of it that they make with other people, he shelter they find in the house of the countess, their six month spent in a ‘Camp for Displaced People,’ it is impossible not to think of the people still making life-threatening journeys in search of refuge, of the people in the camps in Calais, of those in direct provision in Ireland. People are still in these impossibly difficult situations.  Though the play does not directly allude to any contemporary parallels, the opportunity is there, to learn from the past and find the strength of compassion needed to stop these things continuing to happen another 70-odd years from now.

An Elephant in the Garden is a beautifully performed story that looks back to the past, but in doing so provides an insight into the present.

An Elephant in the Garden runs at Underbelly Bristo Square until 27th August as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Review – Wilde Creatures

Pleasance Courtyard

04/08/18

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Oscar Wilde’s fairy tales, though few in number are enormous in the scope of their understanding. They are snapshots of reality through an imaginative lens that teaches vital lessons in kindness, generosity, understanding and respect. Taking the story of The Happy Prince as a frame, Wilde Creatures deftly draws elements of almost all of Wilde’s fairy tales together to bring these lessons, and the beautiful stories that convey them, vividly to life on stage.

The town has become very quiet, the beautiful statue of the Happy Prince is no more, and the Mayor has stopped children from playing in the town centre in order to keep it tidy. The town is not happy. It is decided that there should be a new statue to liven up the town square, but the question is, who deserves to be the subject of this statue? Of course the self-important town Mayor believes the statue should be of him, but the townspeople decide to take a vote. Performing various Wilde fairy tales through storytelling and song, the Wile Creatures ask whether the statue should be of Little Hans, the student, or the princess. As they tell their stories, gradually the townspeople, and the audience, learn that maybe the best way to liven up the town is not through creating a statue of a powerful (selfish, greedy or unkind) person, but by opening back up the square to everyone and caring for its citizens who are struggling.

The Wilde Creatures display impressive versatility as performers, playing multiple musical instruments, and flitting between characters in the stories with gusto. Tom Jude’s overbearing Mayor and Lauren Silver’s brattish princess are two highlights, with both performers creating delightfully unlikeable characters. Alongside the strong performances, Barney George’s ingenious set creates a changeable, captivating Wilde world.

Wilde Creatures is a lively, charming production that reminds us that “humans are the most beautiful flowers of all.”

Wilde Creatures runs at Pleasance Courtyard on alternate days with The Canterville Ghost until 26th August as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Review – Tom Brace: Brace Yourself (It’s Magic Time!)

Pleasance Courtyard – The Green

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

03/08/18

Tom Brace

Despite an enthusiasm for magic tricks that verges on the ridiculous, watching a show in a warm inflatable igloo did not appeal to me earlier this morning as I arrived at The Green at Pleasance Courtyard. I looked forward to it even less as I saw the crowd filing into the venue and imagined the combined warmth of the weather and a full house. But within two minutes of Tom Brace’s Brace Yourself (It’s Magic Time!) getting underway, all crotchetiness was quickly forgotten.

The effervescent Brace opens the show with an enthusiastic round of greetings to the audience before launching into a hilarious opening comic routine which sets the high-energy, joyfully daft tone for the rest of the performance. Though Brace draws on classic tricks, he puts his own spin on most of them, including creating a bizarre game-show setting for one trick, executing a dentist’s nightmare with a paintball gun, and weaving a strong comic performance through every trick.

Throughout the hour-long performance, the energy never drops, and Brace flies deftly through his set with an air of unquenchable enthusiasm, and more than a little mischief. Still puzzling over how on earth he pulled off some of the tricks he did, I highly recommend Brace Yourself (It’s Magic Time!), to anyone, children and grown-ups alike, who finds themselves with some spare time any morning of the Fringe. If you want to catch a magic show this Fringe, then this should be it.

Tom Brace: Brace Yourself (It’s Magic Time!) runs at Pleasance Courtyard until 18th August as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Review – Clowntown: I Can Do Anything

Clowntown: I Can Do Anything

Surgeon’s Hall

Edinburgh Fringe

03/08/18

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“In Clowntown everyone’s funny,
In Clowntown we don’t need money,
In Clowntown nobody’s wearing a crown.”

Candy and Dandy of The Sphere Clown Band take to the stage with their various musical instruments to introduce their audience to Clowntown, a town where you can do anything. The younger members of the audience are invited onto the stage where they are made honorary members of the town council of Clowntown, and invited to dance along to a number of songs, try out Clown exercises and enjoy some magic tricks.

This production is at times an enjoyable interactive show that was well received by its younger audience, who launched themselves into “Clownercise” and their roles as zoo animals with gusto. However, though it is a lively and entertaining show, there are times at which Clowntown finds its audience drifting as the pace draws out. It does not seem confident in itself, which leaves it feeling somewhat clumsy and haphazard. While the classic trope of the clown attempting and failing comically at something was employed effectively at times, at others it felt more that the performer was not in control. The clown character may be struggling, but to retain the audience’s engagement the performer needs to retain control and confidence. As we reached the final song, “I Can do Anything,” the haphazard feeling to the piece continued. The song incorporated performance in American Sign Language, which was a nice element, but it was the first time it was introduced in the piece, seeming more of an afterthought than an intrinsic element. Similarly, the title of the song, “I Can Do Anything” was introduced as the theme of the piece (which is also mentioned in the title), but the theme was not notably present throughout the rest of the show.

Clowntown is a fun production, with good ideas and intentions which don’t quite come to fruition over the course of the show.

Clowntown: I Can Do Anything runs at the Space @ Surgeon’s Hall until August 25th as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.