Aliens Love Underpants

Have you ever watched a film and wished the first half had been edited out? Or read a book and given up after a few chapters because the story wasn't engaging you? Well, Aliens Love Underpants certainly verged on having the unfortunate quality of not fulfilling its remit for the first half hour of this hour-long sold out show at the Pleasance.

Based on the brilliant rhyming book by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort, the show should have been action-packed right from the start. However, the first half which is air-filled, mostly with pointless audience interaction and repeated attempts at breaking the fourth wall, falls completely flat on the audience of 3 to 8 year olds and their parents. Still, the second half works well for all, with brilliant puppetry and stage props, and at last, an attempt to follow the exciting story line: aliens keep coming to earth to steal human underpants, as they have a very special relationship to them and use them in varied and amusing ways. "Aliens love underpants, in every shape and size.  But there are no underpants in space, so here's a big surprise..."

Aliens and Timmy on Planet Janet

The show tune-style singing feels contrived, bar for a few moments of harmonious musicality. The stage lighting is excellent, and the alien puppets original and well handled. However, there is a definite am dram feel about this show, which could definitely be improved on. The boys both loved it though, as did the rest of the audience, so I guess I'm just too harsh a critic.

Juju's favourite bit: When they talked about space
Mum's favourite bit: Planet Janet
Juju's overall rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

My Yellow Ukulele with Gill Bowman

This was a last minute booking, as we originally hadn't planned to go to a music session for kids during the festival. I have over the last 4 years taken both boys to many regular music and singing groups, including Rhyme Time, Jo Jingles and Monkey Music, so yet another nursery rhyme singing session hadn't been high on the agenda when I booked our tickets back in June. But somehow, Gill Bowman's My Yellow Ukulele appealed, not least because Gill is one of Scotland's foremost singer song writers and runs her own children's Song Circle locally, but also because it would seem that children can never have too much singing in their life.

Humpty Dumpty was one of the nursery rhymes on offer

My Yellow Ukulele runs for 2 to 5 year olds at the Pleasance and is a packed half hour of interactive nursery rhymes, animated with lots of props and including plenty of opportunities to dress up, sing, shake some shaky eggs, dance and play for the little ones. The children all enjoyed it, despite the fact that it was lunch time for most of them (I certainly had snacks at the ready).

Gill Bowman and her props

We had a lovely time singing and playing and Gill's guitar and song performance was very engaging and warm.

Leo's favourite bit: placing fruit and vegetables in the shape of a face for the Aiken Drum song
Juju's favourite bit: hopping along to the Five Little Frogs song
Juju's overall rating: 5 stars (out of 5)

The Boy and the Bunnet

We are not a Scottish family. I am French and my husband is English, and it so happens that our son Julien has an English accent. But we are Scottish-friendly of course, having lived in the Auld Reekie for so many years. We certainly put our knowledge of the Scottish culture to the test when we went to see The Boy and the Bunnet at St. Brides, which has been renamed Acoustic Music Centre for the Festival period.

Sae oot tae the show we gaed...

This is the second year running for the show at the Festival, but hurry if you want to see it, as it is only on until the 18th August. Led by seven Scot trad musicians, the story is narrated in Scots language by a story teller in front of a screen showing an animation film based on illustrations by Jojo Norris. This is the tale of a little boy living with his granny, who gets lost and found again, helped by his distinctive hat and all the many animals that surround him. The sweet story really appealed to the boys, they had no trouble understanding Scots, and loved the original music, composed by James Ross, who was also playing the piano. Each character in the story had its own instrument, making it very much like a Scottish version of Peter and the Wolf.

The musicians and the screen showing the animation

The quality of the story telling and musicianship was exceptional and certainly very engaging. Although there was not much audience participation during the story telling, at the end of the show, there was a chance to sing and dance for everyone.

You can watch the 2012 show here and take a look at the lovely web site.

Julien is ever so pleased with his signed copy of the book

After the show, the boys were really keen to buy the book by James Robertson and audio CD, which we got signed by composer James Ross. And guess what the boys asked me to read for their bedtime story that evening?...
Aye, that's richt, and in ma best Scots voice tae.

Julien's overall rating: 5 stars (out of 5)
Julien's scariest bit: The "urisk"
Leo's favourite bit: The dancing cat
Mum's favourite bit: The selkie

Si l'enfant ne dort pas bien... (If the child does not sleep well...)

Looking for a bit of high brow culture during the festival? Got some children who speak a bit of basic French (not compulsory)? This show is for you.

We went to see this unpretentious production by Dreamland theatre, a company set up by students of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, at the intimate Zoo Venue (140 The Pleasance), partly because it had claims of being in French and English, and partly because I like the idea of exposing my children to other things than CBeebies and Disney classics (*sports a snobbish smug smile*).

This is a great introduction to French operatic works by Satie (Chanson du Chat) and Poulenc (Le Sommeil), as well as to ballet - set to the delightful Swan by Saint-Saens (from The Carnival of Animals) - and theatre. The original story line features two children trapped in a magical dreamland, as they set out to defeat an evil witch who has transformed them into animals.

Julien: "People were dressed up, they weren't actual children. They were going to bed. The witch was casting spells. She changed the children into a mouse and a cat."

The rendition by all performers was first class; the operatic singing and ballet were accompanied live by a cellist and a pianist. As well as the definite high culture, there were some very funny moments, for example when the cat and the mouse characters acted out a Tom and Jerry-like scene which had the whole audience laugh out loud.

Julien: "There was a boy doing ballet. I didn't know boys did ballet."

I love the slightly deeper meanings contained within the show: first, some gender stereotype-busting, with the little girl being much braver than the little boy character, and the swan interpretation by a male dancer. Then, the meaning of art as an expression of one's voice: in the story, ballet was the swan's only way of communicating, literally, as the witch had made him mute. And let's not forget all the other meanings already explored in children psychology contained within the fairy tale.

We certainly enjoyed a bit of high culture today.

Julien's "quite scary" bit: the witch (la sorciere)
Mum's favourite bit: the swan dance
Julien's overall rating: 5 stars (out of 5) - "A good show"

Hairy Maclary and Friends Show Featuring Slinky Malinki

Never believe the hype. Or rather, believe it, live it and then make up your own mind. The promise of a smash hit show in the Festival listings should have set off warning lights, which would only have been confirmed by the ginormous queue and the cluster of buggies parked outside George Square Theatre, when we arrived to see the Hairy Maclary and Friends Show Featuring Slinky Malinki. I mean, this is a bona fide classic, the original book even has its own App.

Unlike apparently most of the 400 members of the audience, we had only read the first of the Hairy Maclary series of twelve picture books by New Zealand author Lynley Dodd: "Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy". But we had also read "Slinky Malinki's Christmas Crackers", and the promise of Slinky Malinki being featured in the show was a bonus for Leo, who had loved the story and has a slight fetish for all cats.

The packed-out show features six of the books by Lynley Dodd, all set to music in traditional musical theatre fashion, with a backing piano track. The songs are well interpreted and the actors are engaging, but be warned, the lyrics are true to the original text and, as such, they include long words which are not part of the average pre-schooler vocabulary. In context of course, the play makes perfect sense and none of the boys had any trouble understanding the plot lines. Additional puns are also added for the enjoyment of adults.

Hairy Maclary show on stage!

Audience participation was well received by most of the audience, but involved sequences which could only possibly be mastered by school children. Some of the animal costumes were also slightly scary for very small children, although I have to admit that the English Sheepdog Muffin Maclay was extremely cute and likeable. Overall, I thought the Universal age rating was a bit optimistic, but for school children already familiar with the stories, this is surely a terrific show.

Julien's scariest bit: Scarface Claw the scariest tomcat around
Leo's favourite bits: the promotional balloons we were given before going in to the show and Slinky Malinki sneaking around
Mum's favourite bit: the story of Zachary Quack - this was hilarious
Julien's overall rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Guest Blog Post: The Magical Playroom with Cerrie Burnell and the Pleasance Kidzone

I was away for the weekend, so my husband took the boys to the Festival, and he wrote this guest blog post. Enjoy!

The Edinburgh Fringe experience for me has always been about chance and serendipity; wandering past a venue and somehow being convinced to pay the exorbitant entrance fees to witness what could either be an excruciatingly embarrassing failed attempt to create the future of stand-up "comedy", or a genuinely life-affirming window into another world.

With two small children, however, chance and serendipity can all too easily get in the way of ensuring adequate nutritional and nappy coverage. As such, a safe bet seemed to amble down to the Pleasance "Kidzone" and spend a lazy Saturday morning frantically trying to stop my children ransacking the place.

The Kidzone has a play area for young (under 3-year old) children and the crafts area is small but fun and friendly. It is more like a cafe with good children's facilities than a dedicated children's area (without a soft play area, how could it really be considered a "children's area"?, asks Julien). Having said this, there was a nice-looking tent that had stuff on all day which we did not sample, so we probably missed lots of good stuff in there.

 

The Pleasance Kidzone crafts space

Why did we miss out? Because soon after arriving at the Kidzone, we were approached by a slightly shifty-looking fellow who offered to give us free tickets for an event that was starting in around half an hour, The Magical Playroom with Cerrie Burnell. Now I'm a man of the world and I know that getting the "first one free" can only mean trouble. Next thing we knew, we would be bundled into an armoured Peppa Pig bus and shipped to a remote Charlie and Lola summer camp from where we would never return.

I have no idea why the tickets were free (they are normally £9.50 each) but never mind: amazing!

On the promise that we would definitely go (he was quite particular about this), he handed over 3

tickets and thus we had cashed in our morning's ration of good luck. Fringe serendipity and nappies can coexist - hooray!

I had very little clue about what the show involved, though I had ascertained that it was intended for

kids 3 years and up, and from the flyer I was familiar with Cerrie Burnell as "the lady off CBeebies with a stumpy arm". Leo being not much past 2 and the show being 55 minutes, I was slightly apprehensive that we wouldn't last the course.

Nevertheless we went in and (after convincing Leo not to run onto the stage and sabotage the props) sat down and got comfortable. I have to admit to finding the first few minutes a bit awkward: a presenter off CBeebies was dancing about a stage designed to look like a little girl's bedroom hugging Barbie dolls and talking like a little girl. I was painfully aware that Julien's professed idea of fun at the moment is more along the lines of Spiderman aggressively "rescuing" pirates with the aid of dangerous-looking sticks, and he has started being aware of the differences between what little girls and little boys like (or are encouraged to like). I could see his eyebrow raise slightly at all the girlie talk.

"She did lots of dancing." - Julien

The show has one actor - Cerrie Burnell - who plays both the main protagonist - a little girl called Libby - as well as the little girl's mother, father, grandmother, and doctor. She does this very well, with all the different characters having clearly different (but convincing) accents and a simple prop to make it clear who she is at any one time (for the mother she put on a scarf, for the lovely Irish grandmother a pair of diva sunglasses). From an adult perspective this worked well, and the different characters were somehow very clearly defined, but it was possibly a bit confusing for a 4-year-old and definitely went comfortably over the head of a 2 year old.

The thing about a physical difference such as Cerrie Burnell's lack of (most of) her right arm is that,

although you try to ignore it because you are rationally aware that it is not relevant, it is quite hard

to do so, and you end up trying so hard to stop thinking about it that it ends up being all you think

about.

Or maybe that's just me.

For this reason, at the beginning I kept worrying that one of the children in the audience would shout out something awkward.

Imagine how disconcerted I was, then, when a loud, amplified child's voice came over the PA saying "what happened to your arm?" in that classic shameless child-like way, followed by another child's voice asking the same thing, and another. "Libby" initially gave the true answer ("I was born like this") and then all sorts of fun made-up answers ("I was walking through the jungle when I met a lion who took me to see a mermaid who etc. etc.). At this point, it became clear that the whole show was about her arm (or semi lack thereof) and I could relax and stop trying not to think about it. Phew!

"She broke her arm - that's how she had been born." - Julien

At this point, it got a lot more fun. I have a game with Julien where he pretends to be a doctor and asks what's wrong with me, at which point I make up an elaborate and implausible story to explain why I have a minor ailment and he giggles away. This was along exactly the same lines, so he completely understood the joke.

It transpired from here that the little girl Libby was being encouraged by doctors and her parents to get a prosthetic (or "pathetic" as she called it) arm, and she didn't want one. She felt that she could do everything she wanted to do (especially be a ballerina) without needing it. The story is of how she had the courage to convince her parents of this and stand up to the nasty doctor, the moral being to follow your dreams and to treat the things that make you different as the things that make you special.

 

(Source: BBC News website)

Not the most profound or original sentiments, but nevertheless true, and particularly heartwarming

considering the real-life Libby (Cerrie Burnell) clearly overcame prejudice against her own differences to become a successful TV presenter. It is also admirable to have been able to address an issue like this in a way that could be clearly understood by small children, and to keep it fun enough for even smaller children to be kept entertained. She had some toy props in her bedroom drawers - a snow tiger, a rocking horse, a russian doll and more - that came alive and told their own stories of success in the face of adversity.

"She showed us things." - Julien

I have to admit to being quite soppy when it comes to heart-string-tugging stories like this and,

especially combined with the lovely original music, found myself at times welling up. It was thus

essential to do some very manly Spiderman games immediately afterwards.

Julien and Leo remained rapt pretty much throughout, despite there not being a huge amount going on visually (there could maybe have been more).

The boys meet Cerrie Burnell after the show

"Nothing happened." - Julien

At the end, Julien immediately said "that was really good!" and gave the show a rating of 5 stars, and he was very excited (if slightly shy) to be able to meet Cerrie Burnell after the show.

Read more about the show on the BBC News website.

Father Christmas Needs a Wee

We went to see Father Christmas Needs a Wee, a musical show put on by TaleGate Theatre,  at the intimate venue TheSpace in Jeffrey Street. The counting rhyme picture book by Nicholas Allan published by Random House was set to music and acted out by the two actors posing as Elfie the helping elf and Father Christmas.

On Christmas Eve, Father Christmas's task of delivering the presents goes slightly wrong when he gets side-tracked by all the food and drink left out for him and develops an urge to go to the bathroom, which unfortunately cannot be relieved immediately. You can read the picture book online here.

The witty lyrics of the songs and entertaining choreographies were  probably lost on my children, but this musical show was extremely lively and well performed, with  something for everyone. Elfie was loud and slightly pantomime-like, while Father Christmas was very believable. Expect plenty of audience participation and interaction (including dancing), giant singing mince pies and the hunt for the key to the toilet.

Father Christmas and Elfie look for the key to open the loo

Julien's favourite bit: When Father Christmas goes for a wee for a long time [hearing him go made Julien laugh out loud]
Julien's least favourite bit: When Father Christmas was so desperate he threatened to have a wee in Julien's Spiderman cap
Mum's favourite bit: Mincey P, the singing mince pie puppet

Julien's rating: 5 stars (out of 5)