list.co.uk/festival Previews | FESTIVAL KIDS
THE BOOKBINDER Magical tale for children aged 8+ FLIGHT Athletic sequel to The Little Prince
New Zealand theatre company Trick of the Light were last at the Fringe in 2012 with The Road That Wasn’t There. This year, they’re returning with The Bookbinder, a dark, magical tale best suited to slightly older children (8+). Director Hannah Smith tells us more: ‘The
Bookbinder is an original fable about a bookbinder’s apprentice who ignores good advice and then must pay the consequences. He makes a mistake and finds himself bound into one of his books, in which he battles internal and external demons in order to put right the things he has done wrong.’
Told through shadow puppetry and narrated by Ralph McCubbin Howell, its centrepiece is an intricately designed pop-up book which audiences have loved in performances to date.
There are many profound lines in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s 1943 novella The Little Prince, but perhaps the most important is spoken by a fox: ‘One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eyes.’
Over 70 years later, Californian theatre company Curbside has taken that line as the central theme for its new show for ages four and over, Flight. A sequel which picks up six years after The Little
Prince left off, Flight finds the same pilot back again – actively seeking the Prince, to recall the secret he has forgotten. ‘For us, The Little Prince is a timeless love story about learning to see with the heart, and finding the courage to fly,’ says Curbside’s artistic director, Ezra LeBank. ‘These themes inspired us to create Flight, a sequel with a twist.’
‘At the end of the show,’ Smith says, ‘we always The show also features Curbside's renowned
have people coming up wanting to get a closer look at the pop-up book, or the eagle shadows, and they are astounded by how lo-fi the mechanism is. Theatre can’t compete with film when it comes to making something realistic – but what theatre can do that film can’t, is transform something ordinary into the extraordinary right in front of your eyes.’ (Yasmin Sulaiman) ■ Assembly Roxy, 623 3030, 8–31 Aug (not 17, 24), 1.40pm, £7–£9. Previews 6 & 7 Aug, £6.
highly physical approach to storytelling. ‘By creating surreal imagery with our bodies, we take audiences of all ages on a journey that ignites the imagination,’ says LeBank. ‘We continually transform onstage, morphing into
characters and landscapes, using acrobatics, our voices, lights, original music and one simple piece of set.’ (Kelly Apter) ■ Assembly Roxy, 623 3030, 8–31 Aug (not 18), 12.30pm, £9–£10. Previews 6 & 7 Aug, £8.
CHICKEN LICKEN AND THE LITTLE RED HEN Classic Ladybird stories come alive on stage
Created by DNA Puppetry in 1999, Chicken Licken is the company’s most popular show to date. ‘Everybody who sees Chicken Licken totally adores it,’ says co-creator and puppeteer Adam Bennett. ‘There is only one main character who carries the story, which is important for young children. She is born in front of you and you see the major incidents of her life as she grows into adulthood.’ The show is based on three Ladybird books:
Chicken Licken, The Little Red Hen and The Fox and the Hen. Solo performer Bennett is joined by a cast of characters including rod puppets, shadow puppets and puppets made of dough. ‘There’s a bit of clowning, juggling, some singing and wonderful original music by composer-musician Jon Owen,’ says Bennett.
Suitable for ages 3–8, Bennett wants audiences to react and interact with the show in whatever way they feel. ‘The moment I start, I make it clear that we’re here together to have a good time and enjoy the show,’ he says, ‘and the more they react, call out, laugh, scream or help with suggestions the more delighted I’ll be.’ (Rowena McIntosh) ■ Summerhall, 560 1581, 10–29 Aug (not 17, 24), 3.35pm, £7 (family £26). Previews 5 & 6 Aug, £5 (family £18).
A POCKETFUL OF GRIMMS Award-winning company returns to Fringe with classic tales
Two centuries after Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm first found that people were interested in their stories, that interest shows no sign of waning. Their prolific outpourings have been adapted the world over, with Story Pocket Theatre the latest company to discover the tales’ theatrical potential. ‘The Grimm Tales have lasted because they are great stories,
it’s as simple as that,’ says producer Alison Beattie. ‘They’re full of magic, adventure, right versus wrong (and right doesn’t always win) with characters that appeal to everyone: princesses, witches, kings, mythical creatures, beggars, heroes, villains.’ Back at the Fringe, after its award-winning 2014 debut, Arabian
Nights, the Hampshire-based company had its work cut out deciding which stories to select.
‘The richness and vast variety of the Grimm Brothers’ collection
meant it took ages to reduce more than 200 stories to the five or six we chose,’ says Beattie. ‘We needed a balance of dark, silly, romantic, adventurous and downright odd. We also thought it was important to mix the well-loved stories with those that people may not know at all.’ Back in 1812, when the Grimms made their publishing debut,
the stories were less sanitised and more adventurous than today’s versions. So when Story Pocket began rehearsing, it was to those original collections they turned. And, when it came to designing the show, they also knew where to turn – back to the team who helped make the hugely imaginative Arabian Nights (which also returns this year) such a roaring success.
‘We’re very excited about the set,’ says Beattie, ‘which will help us transform from castle to forest and from humble cottage or the ocean in the blink of a storyteller’s eye.’ (Kelly Apter) ■ Gilded Balloon, 622 6552, 8–31 Aug (not 18, 24), 12.30pm, £8–£9 (£6–£7). Previews 5–7 Aug, £5.
6–13 Aug 2015 THE LIST FESTIVAL 63