,,kids@itst.co.uk
Events are listed by city, then type. Submit listings at least ten days before publication to kids@list.co.uk, by post or by fax on 0131 557 8500. Listings are compiled by Ruth Hedges.
Activities And Fun
Pottery Workshops Sat 21 Feb & Sat 28 Feb. noon 6pm. £5. Fireworks Studio. 35a Dalhousie Street. 332 3738. Ages 4+. Paint pots or have a go on the potter's wheel in these weekly workshops for children.
Saturday Art Club Sat 21 Feb. 10am 1pm. Free. Gallery of Modern Art. Queen Street. 229 1996. Fun art activities for children aged 3 l0 relating to art on display with drawing. collage. sculpture making and games parents can get stuck in too. See photo caption.
Krazy Kinetic Sun 22 Feb,
noon 2pm. £3. ('(‘A. 350 Sauchiehall Street. 352 4900. .Make small kinetic sculptures using the forms of circles. squares and spirals.
Wiggle & Giggle at Mardi Gras Sat 28 8; Sun 29 Feb. 1 lant 3.15pm. Free. (‘CA. 350 Sauchiehall Street. 352 4900. Giant Productions presents a weekend of Mardi Gras activities including decorating umbrellas and making carnival hats.
Saturday Art Club Sat 28 Feb.
2 4pm. Free. Gallery of Modern Art. Queen Street. 229 1996. Ages 3 l2 atid parents. Artist Heather Lynch joins the GoMA art educators for an extended Saturday Art Club with the
chance to draw. make collage. print. paint and sew. The work created will becotne part of a large piece of art exhibited in Glasgow later on in the year. See photo caption.
Theatre & Dance
A Magpie’s Nest of Memories Sat 28 Feb. 2pm. £4 (£3.50). Scottish Mask & Puppet Theatre Centre. 8» 10 Balcarres Avenue. Kelvindale. 339 6185. Collaborators Theatre (‘o present the story of Margaret dressed in exotic costume and speaking in rhyme like a witch‘s spell. Her story and secret unfolds in a magical landscape of puppets. shadows and live mUsic.
Cats Until Sat 28 Feb (not Sun).
Mon Sat 7.30pm (Wed 8; Sat mat 2.30pm). £9.50 £32.50. King‘s Theatre. 297 Bath Street. 240 | l l 1. The world's longest running musical leaves its West lind home to grace us with its feline footsteps.
Guys and Dolls Sat 2| Sat 28 Feb (not Sun). Mon- Sat 7.15pm (Sat tnat 2.15pm). £8 £18. Theatre Royal. 282 Hope Street. 332 9000. The ()rpheus Club presents the popular musical about the unlikely relationship between a Salvation Artny girl and a crap shooter. Nathan Detroit. With direction by Walter Paul and music and lyrics frotn Frank l.oesser.
Books
Tall Tales in the Tower Sat 21 Feb. noon. Free. Tron Theatre. 63 Trongate. 552 4267. Fun interactive storytelling sessions iii the Tron‘s Clock Tower for ages 3 5. Scottish Friendly Children’s Laureate Tour Sat 21 Feb. 3- 5pm.
DANCE DRAMA
THE BRIGHT-EYED MARINER
Brunton Theatre, Edinburgh, Sat 28 Feb, thentounng
Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink. Never has gasping thirst been evoked so desperately as in Coleridge’s epic poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The tale of a fated voyage where vicious ice - ‘lt cracked and growled, and roared and howled’ — gives way to stultifying calm is an epic journey into the imagination.
£3—£7.50 family (£2). Mitchell Theatre. 6 Granville Street. 0845 330 3501. The Children's Laureate Michael Morpurgo etnbarks on a grand Scottish tour telling stories — tall and short. Organised by the Scottish Book Trust. See panel for further details.
Scottish Friendly Children’s Laureate Tour Mon 23 Feb. 10.30am. £5 (£3). Royal Concert Hall. 2 Sauchiehall Street. 353 8000. See Mitchell Theatre above.
Caroline Lawrence: Thieves of Ostia Thu 4 Mar. 1.30pm. Free. Borders Books. 98 Buchanan Street. 222 7700. To celebrate World Book Day. Caroline Lawrence will be reading from her series of Roman mystery stories.
Film
The Barbarian Invasions (15) Mon 23 Feb. 10.30am. Special screening for parents and babies. £2.50. Glasgow Film Theatre. 12 Rose Street. 332 8128. See Film Index.
Bugs 3D (U): Space Station 3D (11). Ghosts of the Abyss 3D (PG). Cyberworld 30 (PG) titnes vary. check Film listings for showing times. £5 (£3.50). IMAX Theatre. Glasgow Science Centre. 50 Pacific Quay. 420 5000.
Activities And Fun
Royal Observatory Public Observing Fri 20 Feb & Fri 27 Feb. 78.45pm. £2.60 (£1.85); family ticket £6. Royal Observatory Visitor Centre. Blackford Hill. 668 8404. Stargazing on top of Blackford Hill. Come and see the constellations. the moon and the planets in the night sky through the telescopes.
It is the tale that Claire Pencak has based her latest production with Tabula Rasa dance company upon, and sitting in on a rehearsal my eye is drawn to a frenetic frieze depicting the many dramatic episodes. Within these colourful scribblings five men — one Nepalese, one Columbian, one English and two Scots - and Pencak are working to express the story which is always flickering on the edge of sanity. Already the dance, backed by Tommy Fowler’s original score for clarinet, violin and percussion and the narration of Peter Grimes, is conjuring something of the turbulent energy which propels Coleridge’s verse. ‘Because it’s got a lot of emotional states and atmospheres it works very well as dance,’ says Pencak.
Famously addicted to the 19th century drug de jour, opium, Coleridge’s knowledge of other planes is belied in the verse. ‘In the notes to the poem he talks about how there are as many invisible as visible worlds - it’s all those things that we don’t see which are brought to life in the poem.’ Pencak’s feel for this other-worldliness was induced at an early age. ‘In the 703 there were lots of power cuts and my mum used to read the poem to us by candlelight - it was very spooky,’ she says.
The piece is devised with an age group of nine upwards in mind and she describes the darkness as a ‘nice scariness’. It’s that kind of thrilling sense of danger that compels the imagination. And the dance, narration and live music is intended to shift with the fluidity of the mariner’s story. ‘We’ve tried to keep everything as simple as possible so things can be transformed,’ says Pencak. ‘We have metres and metres of silk which can become the ice, the bird around his neck, the polar spirit.’
It’s an ambitious project but one which, if it comes off, should satisfy every thirst for magical, dramatic dance: Water, water everywhere, And all of it to drink. (Ruth Hedges)
Kids
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Youth Dance Group Wed 25 Feb & Wed 3 Mar. 4.30—6pm. £2. North Edinburgh Arts Centre. 15a Pennywell Court. 315 2151. Ages 7—12. An introduction to learn different styles frotn contemporary to street dance. Tour de Force Until Thu 22 Apr. 10am ~-5pm. Free. Royal Museum. 2 Chambers Street. 247 4219/4422. Create a bubble wheel. try out an anti— gravity wheel. stretch your voice »— do all these things and lots more at the interactive exhibition on tour from Glasgow's Science Centre.
Life and Times of Mary, Queen of Scots Sun 29 Feb. Sun 12.45pm. 1.45pm & 3.45pm. Free. Museum of Scotland. Chambers Street. 247 4219. Meet Mary. Queen of Scot‘s confidante Mary Beaton and an apprentice Edinburgh stone mason as they tell the tale of the fated Scottish queen.
How’s the Day Thu lQ-Fri 20 & Thu 26—Fri 27 Feb. I lam-«3.30pm. £15 (£10—£12). Edinburgh Castle. Royal Mile. 225 9846. Robert the Bruce. fresh frotn victory at Bannockburn. tells of his greatest triumph in this historical re-enactment from the Alba Adventure Cotnpany.
Drama Workshop - Youth Theatre Thu 19 Feb. Thu 26 Feb & Thu 4 Mar. 4.30 -6pm. £2-—£l5 per term. North Iidinburgh Arts Centre. 15a Pennywell Court. 315 2151. Ages 13-18 (limited places). Shakespeare in Edinburgh is the theme for this new drama workshop in partnership with the Royal Lyceum Theatre. Walkabout Until Fri 27 Feb.
1 lam~l2.45pm. Free. lidinburgh Zoo. Corstorphine Road. 334 9171. Meet the penguins at the end of this informal walk around the mo. Although this is essentially a free event. donations to the Rhino Appeal are more than welcome.
Starlab Until Fri 20 Feb. 9am- 3pm. £8.95—-£5.45. Dynamic liarth. Holyrood Road. 550 7800. Would-be space explorers can take a trip into outer space in an inflatable planetarium courtesy of ()ur Dynamic liarth. Shows take place hourly.
February Fling Until Sun 22 Feb. 9am—4.30pm. Free. lidinburgh Zoo. Corstorphine Road. 334 9171. linjoy the zoo. buzzing with lots of activities during the school's mid term break. including Close lincounters animal handling and more.
Life and Times of Mary Queen of Scots Sun 29 Feb. 12.45pm. 1.45pm & 3.45pm. Free. Museum of Scotland. Chambers Street. 247 4219. Meet Mary Queen of Scot's confidante Mary Beaton and an apprentice Edinburgh stone mason as they tell the tale of the fated Scottish queen. Carnival Street Until Fri 20 Feb. 10am—noon & l--3.30pm. £5. North Edinburgh Arts Centre. 15a Pennywell Court. 315 2151. African rhythm. drumming and dance workshops for 7— l 2 and 13—1 8-year-olds.
Degas and the Italians in Paris Mid-term Workshops Thu 19 Feb. 10am 4pm. £15 (£10). Royal Scottish Academy Building. the Mound. 624 6428. Work with a ballet dancer and an artist to explore Degas' fascination with ballet and put your ideas into practice through sculpture with wire and plaster.
First Impressions Sat 21 Feb.
1 Iain & lptn. £1.50. North lidinburgh Arts Centre. 15a Pennywell Court. 315 2151. A family workshop led by artist Julie Dawson looking at the theme of self portraiture.
An Hysterical History of Scotland Sun 22 Feb. 12.45pm. 1.45pm & 2.45pm. Free. Museum of Scotland. Chatnbers Street. 247 4219. Actors Shonagh Price and Alan Mcllugh take you on a whistle-stop tour of the highs and lows of Scotland‘s history.
19 Feb-41 Mar 2004 THE LIST 95