Kids and Laura Ennor

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…

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase

Children’s adaptation that’s hard to follow

11 Aug 2011

Joan Aiken’s 1963 novel gets an adaptation that is admirable in its aim to offer children something with a grown-up, unpatronising feel, but falls well short of the mark in its execution. The story is one of high adventure: feisty young Bonnie and her…

The Chronicles of Bitter and Twisted

Charming and cheeky fairy tale sequel

8 Aug 2011

A sequel to the classic outsider tale, these chronicles are best suited to the suggested 7+ age range – those younger or more sensitive are likely to find the matters at hand (bullying and exclusion) upsetting, and the several concurrent threads of the…

Lauren St John at the Book Festival

Writing for a more honest and passionate reader

17 Aug 2010

Remember those series of books you would read as a child? Remember how, when you discovered a new one, you’d just have to devour it as quickly as possible, gobbling up boarding-school tales of lacrosse and midnight feasts and adventure after adventure…

White

Charmingly surreal show for toddlers

12 Aug 2010

Catering to the attention spans of fidgety toddlers while also offering value for money, this 35-minute show actually begins in the garden outside – where there’s a host of white objects to talk and think about – and ends with time for chat and play…

Just Macbeth!

Slick, accessible and boisterous adaptation of classic tragedy

8 Aug 2010

There are plenty of reasons why Macbeth is not suitable for kids: there’s the cold-blooded murder, the unmitigated violence, not to mention the difficult language. Australian company Bell Shakespeare, however, are experts in these things, and what they…

White brings a show for toddlers to the festival

Understanding how childrens' minds work

29 Jul 2010

White is a show borne out of an understanding of, and fascination with, the way toddlers’ minds work. Co-creators and performers Andy Manley and Ian Cameron have kept the story and language simple, while the set has been built with award-winning…

Bobby & The Graverobbers - the alternative story of Greyfriars Bobby

Scottish history panto-style tale twists the classic legend

29 Jul 2010

It’s a little known fact that Greyfriars Bobby was not a cute wee Scottie with ‘a Morningside accent and a tartan tammy who ran a couple of Edinburgh marathons and was always carrying old people’s bags’, Bob Skeldon tells us. Oh no, he was a much more…

National Theatre of Scotland's tfd season targets teenage audience

23 Feb 2010

‘Teenagers aren’t aliens, they’re just us but younger.’ It’s a fact easily forgotten but one that playwright Rob Drummond and the rest of the team behind a new season for young people from the National Theatre of Scotland are keeping firmly in mind.