Edinburgh kids' festival marks 35 years of theater magic

The National

2 days ago

This year's jamboree, which ends today, marks 35 years of the festival, 10 of them under the excellent, out-going director Noel Jordan. As one has come to expect of Jordan, his 2025 programme is both carefully curated and wonderfully adventurous. A case in point is the excellent physical theatre piece The Show For Young Men.
Created by Scottish company Guesthouse Projects, this piece (which has its last festival show at The Studio venue this afternoon) coincides nicely with the bringing of serious charges against the notorious misogynist Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan.
There has never been a better time to remind boys and young men that masculinity comes in more flavours than simply 'toxic'. In this delightful show – which is aimed at audiences aged eight to 14 and directed by Eoin McKenzie – Robbie (a 45-year-old man, played by Robbie Synge) and an 11-year-old boy (performed by the extraordinary Alfie) encounter each other on a building site.
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Although dressed for work, the pair can't resist the temptation to play. The plastic tubes of varying sizes, the gaffer tape and the set of metal steps on wheels are just too tempting as Robbie and Alfie find that they can bond wordlessly while putting the paraphernalia of the building trade to fun-filled uses.
The duo switches the radio from its standard football podcasts to a series of musical numbers (by diverse artists ranging from Dolly Parton to New Order) that reflect their varying moods. At one stage, the choreography is supplemented by audio recordings of Robbie and Alfie talking affectionately and insightfully about each other.
The piece is energetically humorous in one moment, and touchingly contemplative in the next. As a means of broaching the (often unarticulated) affection between members of the male sex, The Show For Young Men is reminiscent of Stephen Michael King's lovely children's picture book The Man Who Loved Boxes (which also took unspoken love – in this case between father and son – as its subject).
Another festival show that ends with performances today is the tremendous German production Game Within A Game. Staged in the Assembly Roxy venue, the piece – which is co-produced by Munich companies Ceren Oran and Moving Borders – has its intended audience (of children aged three to seven) captivated from the outset.
Large windows on wheels, constructed of horizontal slats made of elastic, allow performers to look suddenly into the audience, their eyes disappearing as quickly as they had arrived. A hand emerges here, a foot over there, all to the hilarity of the surprised and greatly amused young theatregoers.
Three chairs can be manipulated to become a horse to ride or a car to drive. People become puppets on invisible strings.
A mischievous fox makes numerous surprise appearances, including on the head of one of the three performers. The latter moment is part of a scene in which the cast play in gloriously eccentric costumes (including a man wearing what looks like a 19th-century hoop skirt topped with the face of a sunflower).
The sense of fun and the physical virtuosity of the performers are absolutely compelling. So, too, is the momentum of a piece in which the titular game within a game emerges from the unpredictable negotiations of three friends.
There is friendship of a different kind in Tiébélé, a lovely piece from Théâtre de la Guimbarde (of Belgium) in collaboration with Association Wéléni (from Burkina Faso). Performed by Alex Lobo and Bérénice De Clercq, the show – which was created for children aged 18 months and upwards – invokes the traditional village culture of women in Burkina Faso.
De Clercq plays a n'goni, a beautiful West African string instrument that belongs to the same family as the kora (aka 'the West African harp'), which has been popularised around the world by such great players as Ali Farka Toure, Toumani Diabaté and Sona Jobarteh. Lobo mixes clay and water to create a paste that she will use to decorate transparent screens with the kind of designs that Burkinabè village women paint on the walls of their homes.
Both performers sing traditional Burkinabè songs. Together, these elements – which are enhanced by a lovely use of projected images and animations – accumulate into a wonderfully gentle and elemental feast for the senses of some of the very youngest theatregoers.
Last, but most definitely not least, is Grown-Ups, an uproariously inventive show by Belgian groups Compagnie Barbarie and BRONKS. The show – which played at the Traverse Theatre – is audacious and hilarious in equal measure.
Made for children aged four to 12, the piece entails four grown-up women going about their daily business. Entirely unaware that they are being watched by an audience of children, they play kazoos, arse around with DIY equipment and generally indulge in the kind of ludicrous behaviour grown-ups tend to discourage in kids.
There is a Charlie Chaplin meets Monty Python aspect to the silliness of these adults. Or, at least, there is until the brilliant moment when the grown-ups' games come to a sudden halt when they finally notice that they have an audience.
Following some enquiries, the adults discover that the children watching them are here to see some theatre. 'There is no theatre here', one of the performers insists. 'We are grown-ups and we are very busy.'
From there – with the glorious sound of children chanting their demand for 'Theatre! Theatre!' ringing in their ears – the grown-ups give the kids an improvised performance. All they can come up with, however, is some rubbish choreography and a stupid version of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, complete with three rubber masks of the Russian bard himself.
Elevating daftness to an art form, this cleverly conceived, beautifully structured piece speaks perfectly to the admirable programming of the always excellent Edinburgh International Children's Festival.
The Edinburgh International Children's Festival ends today: imaginate.org.uk