Kids
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Cinderella (King's Theatre, Edinburgh)
8 Dec 2011
Panto dream time Allan Stewart, Andy Gray, Grant Stott and Paul Elliot strike gold once again
The great strength of the King’s panto, year upon year, is its ability to hook audiences of all ages and tastes. The script, co-written by Paul Elliott and everyone’s favourite dame, Allan Stewart, features great dollops of slapstick and toilet humour…
Rudolf
7 Dec 2011
The Arches strike again with imaginative alt.panto starring Ross Allan and Rob Evans
For the last couple of years, The Arches have offered an offbeat alternative to the traditional panto – and this year’s Rudolf is no exception. The classic reindeer tale (red nosed fella, rejected by society, wins out in the end by saving Christmas) is…
Mister Merlin
7 Dec 2011
The Weegie-centric Tron panto continues to entertain despite uncertain future
Renowned for their particularly weegie take on a festive tale, the Tron may sadly be unable to continue their affordable Christmas shows due to the loss of their corporate sponsor. Unless they find another, the theatre will need to raise £20,000 a year…
Beauty and the Beast
6 Dec 2011
Stuart Paterson's 'children's play' is enjoyable but lacks the energy of true panto
The basic story is so simple it’s mythic: girl meets beast, they fall in love, beast turns into boy. Stuart Paterson’s venerable adaptation is a tad more complicated. There are ugly sisters (as if a titular ugly character weren’t enough), played with…
Historic Scotland has Christmas all wrapped up
1 Dec 2011
Edinburgh and Stirling castles set to host festive events this winter
Looking to get into that Christmas spirit good and early but seeking some festive inspiration? Sometimes we forget about the very best things on our doorstep – maybe it’s because we associate them more with tourists than as places to visit ourselves but…
Edinburgh Castle and Stirling Castle: Alternative Christmas dining options
23 Nov 2011
Two iconic venues now taking bookings for your Christmas meal
Stuck for somewhere decent to have your Christmas lunch? Need a venue that’ll please a range of tastes but won’t be another run-of-the-mill pub grub standby in the city centre? Have you considered going for something a bit more... iconic?
Events for St Andrew's Day 2011
18 Nov 2011
Live music, ceilidhs, free and discounted entry to nation’s key landmarks
Visit for free As part of Scotland’s Winter Festivals, the weekend before St Andrew’s Day will be enhanced with money-off deals for some of the nation’s key landmarks. You can get cheap or free entry to Glasgow Science Centre (check out the…
Design and Democracy exhibition - Free Family Weekend to mark St Andrew's Day
16 Nov 2011
Free events include building your own rocket and radio-controlled car
Design affects the lives of all of us. Whether it’s an intuitive new phone, a car that tells us we’ve left the lights on, or the Kindle doing something nobody expected and actually improving on the design of a book, who of us have not had our lives…
Family Christmas concerts: Christmas Swingalong and Christmas Magic
15 Nov 2011
A festive family show for each city in December
When you’re in the business of children’s entertainment, a flexible attitude to costumes is a definite advantage. In the past few months alone, Owen Cox and Oliver Gunnell (aka Owen and Olly) have walked onstage in their dressing gowns, shiny lycra…
Top children's books on sale for Christmas
15 Nov 2011
New titles from Jacqueline Wilson, Julia Donaldson, Francesca Simon and David Walliams
While the December market is traditionally slow for adult fiction, when it comes to kids books, it’s a ripe old time of year. This winter there are books from some familiar names and favourite characters which won’t look bad popping out of a woolly…
Brad Pitt bans kids' computers
29 Oct 2011
Celebrity Gossip
Brad Pitt hid his children's computers because he thinks they spend too much time playing video games. The 'Moneyball' actor - who raises Maddox, 10, Pax, seven, Zahara, six, Shiloh, five, and three-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne with partner…
Wee and Big Inspiration Festivals
28 Oct 2011
An impressive range of activities including theatre, puppetry and workshops for kids young and old
Looking through the Big and Wee Inspiration Festival brochures, the first thing that strikes you is the range. From balletLORENT’s adventurous new dance work Underneath the Floorboards to light and video installation The Light Garden and Oliver Searle’s…
Africa in Motion Children's Day
28 Oct 2011
Programme of kids' activities at the film festival aim to strengthen Scottish-African links
With many Scottish schools forging links with Africa, more and more children are learning to appreciate the highs and lows of life on another continent. To that same end, this year’s Africa in Motion (AiM) film festival is offering families a…
Emily Doolittle, Rody Gorman and Paragon Ensemble - Songs of Seals
21 Oct 2011
Canadian composer, Gaelic poet and Glasgow group collaboration
We all love to see their inquisitive friendly faces around many of Scotland’s coastal waters, but how many people have heard seals singing? Can they actually sing? According to the Canadian composer with the wonderfully apt name of Emily Doolittle…
Arthur, the Story of a King
21 Sep 2011
Colourful family-friendly production about the legendary king from theatre group Wee Stories
Nobody really knows for sure what King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table got up to – a fact quickly acknowledged by Wee Stories in its lively historical drama. Each book documents different facts and figures, so Wee Stories offer us ‘an…
Family Fun Music Day
19 Sep 2011
Programme of music events aimed at opening up the Glasgow Concert Halls to younger music-lovers
Mission Impossible-style light beams that play musical notes as you cross them, a giant labyrinth of music and light, and a dark room filled with scary sounds – hardly business as usual at Glasgow’s City Halls. Organised by Svend Brown, director of…
Scottish Chamber Orchestra present parent and baby concerts
14 Sep 2011
Big Ears, Little Ears series brings Beethoven to daytime slot
It’s never too young to start listening to music, but for the babies, toddlers and their parents who want more than ‘Twinkle Twinkle’, the live orchestral experience isn’t one usually on offer. Putting that to rights is the Scottish Chamber Orchestra…
Movin' Melvin Brown: Just Singing and Dancing ... You Can Do It!
1 Sep 2011
Slick foot-stomping but too much audience on show
Movin’ Melvin Brown certainly got his stage name right. There’s no denying the Texan man can move. And move he does, sometimes so fast his gold shoed feet go into a little fuzzy cloud of slick rhythm and frantic toe-tapping. The best thing by far…
Interview: Ian Billings
24 Aug 2011
Children’s TV writer turned stand-up
What inspired you to do stand-up comedy for kids? The money! I earned £1 last year and I’m still wondering where to invest it. Also the sheer joy of being surrounded by gigglesome, joyous hoots of delight at something I’ve invented. What’s the most…
Revolting Rhymes
22 Aug 2011
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…
The Fall Children
22 Aug 2011
Weak storyline made up for by macabre, colourful underworld
This sinister fairytale turns a place that young children fear to tread – under the bed - into a delightfully macabre underworld. A little girl awakes to find that she and her stuffed toy Caruso have fallen into this dark chasm. With the help of a…
Hurry Up and Wait
22 Aug 2011
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…
The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik
19 Aug 2011
Poignantly Pixar-esque underwater adventure
Alvin Sputnik’s poster comparison to Wall-E is an apt one, although other Pixar parallels would fit equally well. As in Finding Nemo, this underwater world is vast and filled with danger. As in Up, there are moments of heartbreaking grief. And like…
Interview: Movin’ Melvin Brown
17 Aug 2011
Infectiously enthusiastic performer tells us about his love of dance
What is your favourite dance style and why? Freestyle, which combines a lot of dance styles together like Michael Jackson did. I am lucky enough to have seen the origins of a lot of dances, so I understand the basis of most of them. Dance is the…
Darren Shan, Barry Hutchison and Alexander Gordon Smith talk horror
16 Aug 2011
Creating terrifying tales for teenage readers at the EIBF
As far as groundings in the horror business go, young adult writer Barry Hutchison knew exactly what fear was from an early age. ‘I lived in a perpetual state of terror when I was a kid,’ says the Fort William-based creator of the Invisible Fiends…
