Fringe Children's Theatre
Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs 2
Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh
Mary Brennan
three stars
NEVER mind Conan Doyle’s Lost World, where the dinosaurs were confined to a plateau in the Amazon basin, according to the children’s books by Giles Andreae and Russell Ayto, there are dinosaurs roaming the seven seas as – aaargh! – pirates. And now these scary creatures have been let loose before small children, who soon seize every opportunity to RAWRRR! out loud during the production by Les Petits.
The company is an offshoot of Les Enfants Terribles, and it certainly shows in the ease with which the cast juggle characters and costume changes, shift the set around and stop whatever else they’re doing to sing jolly songs. Unlike most Fringe shows for children, this production has considerable resources to play with. The Mr T Rex costume, all seven towering feet of it, is a mighty asset, while the clinking-clanking sausage machine both terrified and delighted the little boy next to me. Pirate dinosaurs? Sausages? A magic cutlass that requires an underwater search scene? The intended age range (three and up) won’t be bothered by trying to suspend their disbelief as they’re onside with the chipper school-kids who fall into the fantastical adventure and brave all manner of colourful perils. Younger members of the audience might find the smart-alec word-play whizzes past them; it’s really the adults who chortle at the clever rhyming with diplodocus and the like. All very rollicking, nonetheless, with Patrick Warner, Dominic Creasey, Rosie Nicholls and Patrick Tolan (cross-dressing as teacher Miss Pie, as well as inhabiting the T-Rex costume) persuading us there’s a well-drilled cast of dozens.
Run ends August 29
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