In Christmases past, the MacRobert's splendid Playhouse children's studio has hosted shows for the very young by such outstanding artists as Oily Cart theatre company and Andy Manley.
Theatre-makers such as these are hard acts to follow, and Polar Molar (an in-house production, written for kids aged three and upwards by Abigail Docherty, and devised collaboratively with the actors, director and designer) does not really measure up.
One is surprised, as well as disappointed, by this, as the team behind this show (Docherty, Julia Innocenti, Ros Sydney, Lu Kemp and Karen Tennent) are the creators of the justifiably acclaimed children's piece One Thousand Paper Cranes.
However, there is a sense in which Polar Molar (in which mad explorer Captain Scot Scott and his trusty husky DogBog go off, in the year 2020, in search of the last polar bear) is a victim of the previous show's success. One Thousand Paper Cranes – which took as its subject the nuclear attack on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 – was a brilliant example of an issue-based production which, nevertheless, put the requirements of drama before the more didactic demands of politics and history.
Crucially, that piece was made for schoolchildren. In trying to transfer the formula to a younger audience, Docherty and Co have ended up with a somewhat lop-sided show. Certainly, the interior of Captain Scot Scott's snow mobile looks great, and the little mittens handed to the children as they enter the theatre (so they can pretend they have husky pup paws) are a lovely touch.
However, the moments of audience participation never really get close to the Oily Cart-style interactivity that truly engages three-year-olds, and the series of events (from a walrus returning the Captain's carelessly discarded plastic bottles to DogBog's environmental rant) is simply too polemical.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article