Charming, imaginative show for younger children from Fish and Game
Who says you need a cast of thousands, pyrotechnics, 3D projections and a troupe of dancing local children to create a successful Christmas show? Fish and Game's new piece for under-sixes features just two performers, a few props and a simple set, but still manages to charm its young audience for the bulk of its 50-minute running time.
Eilidh MacAskill and Fiona Manson's mischievous, mute bears were first introduced to the public as part of the Imaginate Festival in 2010 and have been making sporadic appearances ever since. Their first full-length outing finds the two Arctic adventurers scaling and then skiing down mountains and traversing a loch in a rowing boat, feats that are evoked through precision mime and ingenious interactions between Claire Halleran's versatile set and tiny puppet versions of our heroic protagonists. Much humour is derived from the relationship between the 'Big' and 'Little' bears, whether fighting over their sandwiches or boogying along to Greg Sinclair's catchy background music.
The show is perhaps a little too gentle in its pacing for children at the upper end of the recommended age range, but the daft humour is infectious and there are more than enough interactive elements to keep younger kids engaged, notably an invitation to come up onstage and play with the foil space blankets that have been doubling as mountains - an invitation that is enthusastically received by kids of all ages.
Macrobert, Stirling, until Sun 30 Dec.