Edinburgh International Children’s Festival kids round-up: Beauty of teamwork
Imaginate lay on a superb showcase featuring wheelchair-based dance, a magical contraption and an ice-inspired installation
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Children are not noted for their leniency of spirit when bored in the theatre, therefore curating a whole festival to keep them entertained is no mean feat. This year’s Edinburgh International Children’s Festival showcases a broad range of disciplines (Chinese pole, clowning, dance, comedy and theatre) across 15 shows from nine countries. While most pieces do have their age ranges signposted, several have a much broader appeal.
Mirkids, from Swiss group Prototype Status could surely enchant anyone from babies to nonagenarians. It feels like stepping inside a kaleidoscope. We lie on the floor, staring at a mirrored ceiling, while dancers create patterns in a fenced off ring behind our heads. They synchronise knee bends, curve their arms and suddenly we’re looking up at a flower, then a sun, then a Vitruvian Man. The lighting meanwhile shifts from soft clay tones to candy pastels. Not just immersive and mesmerising, it’s a lesson in the beauty of teamwork and the wonder of our bodies; definitely things worth emphasising to young minds.
Danish/Scottish collaboration In Time offers a more grounded tale, rooted in the relationship between two men as they parent a growing seed. Andy Manley and Claus Mandøe are charming comedic storytellers, navigating a sweetly surreal world and drawing soft clowning from everyday encounters (accidentally swapped coats, the mystery of a closed box, the sounds ‘oh’ and ‘ah’). The piece is kept just on the right side of twee by the brilliant towering set, a magical contraption of wooden cupboards and drawers which continues to serve up its secrets until the show’s last moments.
Aimed at slightly older children, Ross MacKay’s Cringe is fantastic, a high school romp with depth and soul, reminiscent of Willy Russell. MacKay’s tale tells the story of first year Reid Aitken who undergoes a socially catastrophic moment in PE class (based on MacKay’s own experience). This triggers a domino effect of bullying behaviours in the usual high school flavours: rude drawings, homophobic scrawls, corridor whispers. The tonal shift from hi-jinks to horror is tackled beautifully without ever feeling heavy handed, and the play is delivered by a phenomenal cast who breathe both fun and integrity into a whipcrack changing roster of roles.
A short bus ride from the city centre, Hayley Earlam has brought ice-inspired dance-installation Brrr (main picture) to town for children with complex needs. Set in a cosy igloo, the show is restricted to eight audience members (with all tickets allocated to school groups) but it’s also coming to the Edinburgh Fringe in August and is well worth checking out. Huge amount of thought has gone into making the space inclusive and a wander round the set reveals textured seating, ambient lighting and breakaway spaces.
Crowning the flagship opening event, choreographer Marc Brew’s Boys Don’t Dance is a celebratory air punch of a piece. Brew, who has used a wheelchair for 29 years, brings together dancers Piotr Iwanicki (also a wheelchair-based dancer) and Ross Malloy (an able-bodied dancer and BMX rider) to tell a loose tale with autobiographical flourishes, about defying gender conventions in small town Australia. The storytelling is a little drawn out at times, but the show really catches fire when Iwanicki and Malloy duet. On wheels they are exhilarating together, spinning to 80s hits. With Malloy on foot they glide in balletic, acrobatic phrases. Story or none, you could watch them and their marvellous chemistry all night.
Edinburgh International Children’s Festival, various venues until Sunday 7 June; main picture: Brian Hartley.