FESTIVAL KIDS | Reviews
I GOT SUPERPOWERS FOR MY BIRTHDAY Enjoyable and energetic adventure that has you hooked ●●●●●
If only all children’s theatre could be performed in the Paines Plough Roundabout, a good view would become commonplace. Everyone inside this large pop-up tent can see perfectly, and the performers use the circular space to their advantage, constantly changing direction to keep the energy flowing. Which is exactly what’s required for a story as pumped up as I Got Superpowers For My Birthday. As the name suggests, the show focuses on three children who suddenly find their bodies do more than the average human. William can turn everything to ice, Ethan can shake the ground like an earthquake, while Fiona’s fingers suddenly shoot fire. As they say, ‘it’s not easy turning 13’.
Despite their shared revelation, none of the children are friends.
Michael is the maths-loving ‘weirdo’, Ethan the slightly arrogant popular kid whose mum tells him he’s the best at everything (and he believes it), while the fiercely self-sufficient Fiona lives with her dinner lady, Digestive biscuit-obsessed auntie and longs for things to be different.
A sense of mystery builds well in Katie Douglas’ script, as we slowly learn that an evil force called ‘The Darkness’ is behind these strange occurrences – but who is it, and why did they pick these three?
The big reveal is suitably surprising, and while the underlying message of friendship might feel a little laboured, all is forgiven in the face of such superb performances. Remy Beasley, Richard Corgan and Andy Rush are all endlessly dynamic and frequently funny as our superhero friends, while still managing to explain everything in clear detail, so that everyone – large and small – is drawn into this exciting tale. (Kelly Apter) ■ Roundabout at Summerhall, 560 1581, until 21 Aug (not 16), 11am, £8–£10 (£5–£7).
CAPTAIN FLINN AND THE PIRATE DINOSAURS 2 Atmospheric and well-realised adaptation ●●●●● BEARDS! BEARDS! BEARDS! Tale of empowerment falls short ●●●●●
THE TINIEST FROG PRINCE IN THE WORLD Puppets, live animation and fun combined ●●●●●
Part of the beauty of Giles Andreae and Russell Ayto’s Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs series of books for young children is the way it throws together fantastical elements with gleeful, unrestrained abandon. Secret doors in broom cupboards tumble out onto pirate ships on the high seas, and islands are filled with marauding, stylised dinosaur brigands.
Without a huge budget this would be a difficult
theatrical transfer, but Les Petits has executed this sequel to their original adaptation with lively invention. Consciously aping the style of a school play, writer Oliver Lansley’s version tells of Flinn's quest to rescue his friends Pearl and Tom from the clutches of Captain T-Rex and his crew. At times the atmosphere builds almost too well,
with the abduction of the children in rumbling darkness creating a spike of tension which is a little overpowering for smaller audience members. Yet the swashbuckling characters are brave and plucky, even when faced with perils like the dinosaurs’ mincing machine and Flinn’s quest to the ocean floor for the magic cutlass. (David Pollock) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 29 Aug (not 16), 10.30am, £9–£12 (£7.50–£10.50).
70 THE LIST FESTIVAL 11–18 Aug 2016
After last year’s exceptional show, The Bookbinder, hopes were high that New Zealand’s Trick of the Light company had something else tasty up its sleeve. Somewhat bafflingly, this proves not to be the case.
A cracking opening number replete with laughs whets the audience’s appetite for what is to come, only to find us slowly lowering our expectations when that early potential fails to deliver.
Young Beatrix lives with her two dads, both of whom are expert barbers. Yet neither of them can give her what she really wants – a beard. And so begins a journey of discovery, whereupon Beatrix meets some of the great beards in history, including: Charles Darwin, Confucius and Abraham Lincoln. But without any real context or explanation of who they are, much of this feels esoteric for a young audience. To gain access to these hirsute men, Beatrix steps inside a magical doorway, which becomes formulaic after a while. All of which is a crying shame, as the central idea is a strong one – in particular, Beatrix’ discovery that to achieve greatness she just needs confidence in her own abilities, not facial hair. By the time that message arrives, however, many of the restless bums on seats have lost interest. (Kelly Apter) ■ Assembly Roxy, until 28 Aug (not 15, 22), 4.15pm, £10 (£8).
Within minutes of this gentle show from Korea’s Brush Theatre starting you can see the look of confusion and worry passing over people’s faces. The stage looks beautiful, with two characters dressed as a prince and princess, and a tiny, intricate set featuring puppet versions of themselves. But when they start delivering the dialogue in Korean we’re all wondering how we’ll keep up.
It transpires there’s no need for concern. The tale of ‘The Princess and the Frog’ is so simple and well- known (witch turns prince into frog, princess kisses frog, frog becomes prince again) that following the storyline soon becomes effortless. Key words such as ‘kiss’ are translated into English, and the performers use their bodies and facial expressions to leave us in no doubt what they’re feeling. Adding an extra spark is live capture animation which relays the tiny puppetry onto a large video screen. A few laughs from the Koreans in the audience
suggest we might be missing a few things, but there’s more than enough storytelling and visuals to keep us interested in any language. (Kelly Apter) ■ C, 0845 260 1234, until 29 Aug (not 15), 1.15pm, £8.50–£10.50 (£4.50–£8.50).