In August 2010, during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the Scottish Book Trust hosted an extraordinary piece of children's theatre that delighted pre-school kids and their attendant adults with its originality.
Titled simply White, it was staged by acclaimed Scottish children's theatre company Catherine Wheels, written and co-devised (with Ian Cameron) by Andy Manley, and directed by Gill Robertson.
Set in a little, entirely white world, it introduced us to two men (named Cotton and Wrinkle) who appear to be its only human inhabitants. They sleep together in a white tent, and catch white eggs, alive with the sounds of children at play, as they drop from the sky, and nurture them in a series of white birdhouses.
However, this lovely, wee society isn't quite as benign as it seems. Wrinkle (played by Cameron) is the self-appointed protector of the apparent purity of the place. When a red egg, as alive as the others, falls into the hands of Cotton (played by Manley), Wrinkle demands that it be consigned to the big white bin.
What follows is a tremendous, technically magical piece of theatre for two- to four-year-olds. Conscience and colour overcome uniformity, Wrinkle undergoes a Damascene conversion and the young audience is captivated by the play's colourful transformation.
So successful has this unique and universal show been that Catherine Wheels has toured it in various countries on four continents (Australasia, Asia, North America and Europe). Right now, as Manley and Cameron prepare to revive the piece at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, a different cast is performing the play in France.
When I meet Manley at the Traverse, I ask him how he accounts for the global acclaim and numerous awards White has achieved. It is crucial, says the creator or co-creator of such lauded children's theatre works as My House, Pondlife McGurk and Huff, to have a deep understanding of your intended audience.
"Two-year-olds think that whatever they're experiencing now is their life from now on," Manley explains. "They have no understanding that this is a 40-minute show and it's going to end ... once you understand that, you realise you have to make it a nice experience from the very moment the children arrive."
Such concerns are the day-to-day work of children's theatre makers, and serve as a reminder of the skills required of our top creators of shows for young audiences. Not for them the quiet endurance of a dissatisfied adult audience; if young children are bored by your work, they will soon let you know about it.
"They don't sit and smile and be polite about it," Manley comments. "When I make a piece of work, I have to think about whether the audience is going to run out crying."
Far from departing in haste, young children are thoroughly absorbed by White. The writer remembers that during one Edinburgh performance, one little boy, who had just turned three, greeted the red egg being thrown in the bin by shouting out "Why?". Manley was understandably impressed by this "really profound" response from such a young child.
White's target audience also seems to love the show's off-beat characters, Cotton and Wrinkle. "I think it's really nice that it's two men doing this supposedly maternal thing of nurturing, caring and looking after the eggs," says Manley.
The revival of White is a great early Christmas present for pre-school children in Edinburgh, Lothian and beyond. They are bound to delight in the return of an inflexible old man, his guilt-stricken young friend and a pristine, white world that is about to explode with colour.
White is at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, December 17 to 24, www.traverse.co.uk
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