Play Day and Captain Flinn and The Pirate Dinosaurs

The Council organized Play Day was a great success last year, when it was run on the Grassmarket. This year, however, the decision to run it on the Royal Mile, alongside the tumultuous crowds of festival goers, flyering egos and street shows, could be described euphemistically as a poor one. Although the Play Day 2013 activities - yarn throwing to spin a giant web, huge cardboard fort, large sand and mud pits among others, were brilliant again - they were swamped by the mass of people there. Overcrowdedness has been known to spoil the fun, so we can only hope that the Council will not make the mistake of double-booking the area where this event is happening next year.

Julien helps to spin a giant web

Play Day sandpit on the Royal Mile - if three's a crowd, what is fifty?

A visit to the Museum later, just to cool off, and we were ready to attend our first Fringe Festival show: Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs, by Les Petits Theatre Company, Greenwich Theatre and Underbelly Productions. We bought our tickets through the fringe website here.

Julien was determined to enjoy the show and literally couldn't wait for it to start.

When it finally started, it was a pleasant experience indeed: the talented crew of four ran an action-packed show, posing as no less than ten different characters, including the main character Flinn, his friends Pearl and Tom and the hilarious dinosaur pirates: Daniel the dippy diplodocus and Terence the pterodactyl. The story is an original tale of bravery featuring dinosaur-tastic swashbuckling adventures. The show, packed with songs, imaginative costumes and puppetry, felt quite true to the children's book written by Giles Andreae and illustrated by Russell Ayto.

Flinn faces the giant T-rex pirate in an awesome finale!

Julien's favourite bit: When they went on an adventure
Julien's scariest bit: The giant Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur pirate and his large teeth
Mummy's favourite bit: Terence the pterodactyl's camp catch phrase - "Coooooo-ey!"

Overall it was a great show. Julien gave it 5 stars (out of 5)