Kids and Allan Radcliffe

The Hot 100 2011: 100-50

The definitive list of Scottish creative talent

16 Dec 2011

100: Gordon Ferris. Kilmarnock crime author makes good. The already packed Scottish crime writing field has finally found a bit of elbow room for another burgeoning talent. Joining the likes of Rankin, Brookmyre, McDermid and co is this Ayrshire-born…

Cinderella (King's Theatre, Edinburgh)

Panto dream time Allan Stewart, Andy Gray, Grant Stott and Paul Elliot strike gold once again

8 Dec 2011

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…

Cloud Man

Delightful puppet show with its head in the clouds

14 Aug 2011

Puppet maker/performer Ailie Cohen has been delighting young folk and their grown-ups for many a Fringe with her original stories and fairy-tale adaptations. Cloud Man is no exception, a deceptively simple story that will melt even the flintiest of…

Pop-Up! The Amazing Adventures of Moo-Dong

The art of entertaining

8 Aug 2011

Theatre Bom’s Pop-Up! is based around the inspired notion of recreating famous paintings, such as Arcimboldo’s ‘fruit faces’ and Seurat’s ‘Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jette’, live onstage. Don’t be nervous: an in-depth knowledge of…

The Last Miner uses puppetry to profound effect

Moving, melancholic puppet show

8 Aug 2010

This inventive show, developed by Tortoise in a Nutshell in association with Catherine Wheels, is short on action, features little dialogue and takes place on the tiny stage of the Hill Street studio theatre. But the tale of an elderly miner, living…

Edinburgh Festival 2010: More Fringe show highlights

Some of the shows to look out for at the Fringe

16 Jul 2010

With over 2,400 shows to choose from at this years Fringe festival, it's all to easy to succumb to the paradox of choice. Here we present our picks for some of the smaller shows that are worth looking out for.

Will You Be My Guinea Pig?

16 Jun 2010

Edinburgh-based company Starcatchers works in partnership with arts organisations, venues, artists and child care settings to develop performing arts experiences for children aged 0-4. This latest innovative multi-dimensional piece has been developed by…

The Elves and the Shoemaker

10 Mar 2010

An Easter treat for children and young people, courtesy of the Dundee Rep ensemble. This adaptation of the classic Grimm Brothers’ tale, about the penniless shoemaker and his wife who discover an exquisite pair of shoes waiting for them when they wake…

Lighter Than Air

Balloon antics provoke belly laughs

18 Aug 2009

It’s amazing the fun that can be generated from a few simple props. When clown Danny Schlesinger plods on stage wearing a too-tight suit and a deadpan expression, his arms weighed down with three enormous yellow balloons, you wonder whether he will be…

Frog

Amphibian tale that puts a spring in your step

10 Aug 2009

Pity poor Max. He’s moving house in the morning, and is terrified of leaving behind his friends, his school and his teacher. The only thing his mother can do to reassure him is read from his favourite picture books – all about a kindly, inquisitive frog…

Burglar Bill

Winning adaptation of kids’ classic

9 Aug 2009

This stage re-imagining of Janet and Allan Ahlberg’s much-loved illustrated fable, by Pandora’s Box theatre company, retains the offbeat humour and otherworldly atmosphere of the original, while throwing in plenty of opportunities for audience…

Beauty and the Beast

11 Dec 2008

FESTIVE FAIRYTALE Dundee Rep ensemble’s take on the ultimate love-triumphs-over-adversity fairytale is a bit of a mixed bag. The story takes a while to warm up, with an overlong preamble leaving you longing for the star to hurry up and make his…

Chris Priestley - Tales of Terror from the Black Ship

16 Oct 2008

GHOST STORIES The great English chiller writer MR James observed that one of the key facets of a good, nerve-shredding ghost story is ‘a pleasing terror’. Chris Priestley’s follow-up to the imaginative Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror similarly aims…

I Can't Sleep by David O'Doherty

No cure for insomnia

14 Aug 2008

Next time you find yourself wide awake in the middle of the night, desperately trying to think of ways to make yourself tired, try taking a few leaves out of David O'Doherty's self-help manual for insomniacs. Rule number one: counting sheep is just…

Clockheart Boy

Stylish, heart-rending tale

7 Aug 2008

There's an important piece missing from the Professor's puzzle: his daughter Sophie disappeared 28 years ago while out walking on the beach. Luckily, he's got an energetic bunch of eccentric pals living in his castle to help with the search and assist…

James Campbell's Shut Up Stupid

Comic plays for kids of all ages

31 Jul 2008

James Campbell is envied and acclaimed across the comedy universe for carving out a triumphant career performing stand-up for kids. While his Comedy Club 4 Kids continues to train young folk from the ages of six upwards in the hard-nosed business of…

We all fall down

Exploring the darker side of storytelling

31 Jul 2008

Over the past five years, En Masse theatre has garnered a reputation for creating exciting, imaginative productions for young people and their families. Their latest show, We All Fall Down, is a tale of two villages – Eyam, where the people are saintly…

A History of Scotland (In 60 Minutes or Less)

16 Aug 2007

The avowed intention of this whizz through Scotland’s turbulent past is to bypass the usual cheesy tartan and shortbread stereotypes in favour of something altogether grittier. While this is a noble aim, the trio of performers initially struggle to get…

Whiff

9 Aug 2007

Kipper Tie theatre’s tale of how Whiff the big, fat, smelly baby warthog, surmounts his rather unfortunate body odour problem and propensity to attract ‘tickly quickly flies’, to finally find a firm friend, is told without fuss or frills. But the lack…

Kidsamonium

1 Aug 2007

While jazz improv may not immediately spring to mind as ideal kids entertainment, Tom Bancroft, drummer and innovator behind the hugely successful children’s jazz orchestra, Kidsamonium, begs to differ.

Preview of the year 2007

2007 is about the future. And about the past. It’

3 Jan 2007

THE FUTURE Cyberspace invaders We may not be flying around in hover cars or wearing spangly all-silver outfits, but thanks to the internet the future has truly arrived. And the revolution will continue apace in 2007, argues Suzanne Black. A…

Cinderella - Perth Theatre

Cinderella

13 Dec 2006

The Pitch Pity poor Baron Hardup, as feeble as a bowl of watery broth with a dicky ticker to boot, blitz-fully wedded to arch shrew Dodda Mutton, stepfather to a pair of hideous harpies who could give Lucrezia Borgia a run for her money in the…

Hansel and Gretel - Dundee Rep

Hansel and Gretel

13 Dec 2006

The Pitch A kindly but impoverished woodcutter, with aspirations of becoming the next Gordon Ramsay, dwells on the edge of a forest with his hideously deformed, flatulent wife and two children, inch-thick Hansel and plucky Gretel. Keen to get hubby's…

Muttnik, the First Dog in Space

11 Aug 2006

Niki McCretton’s version of the true story of Laika the first Russian space dog (dubbed Muttnik by the Americans) represents kids physical theatre at its most simple but effective. The tone alternates between melancholic and slapstick, lending the piece…