Fringe Children's Theatre

Mary Brennan

Chiffonade

Institut Francais

four stars

The Story of Mr B

Institut Francais

four stars

Mikey and Addie

Summerhall

four stars

THE HURLY burly of the Fringe doesn’t always feel a welcoming habitat for very young children, nonetheless there are wee gems for early years theatre-goers. Chiffonade is one of them. Choreographed by Michele Dhallu and performed by Suzel Barbaroux for Carré Blanc Cie, it’s like a living picture book for tinies (aged 1 and over). A ginormous squishy ball of many colours sits alone on the stage. It’s actually the patchwork house of a mercurial sprite who gives the sphere lively legs, turns it into a snail-shell home, and finally wriggles out of it into the Big World. That’s when the material magic begins: the ball harbours a rainbow whisk of differently textured fabrics which Barbaroux fashions into clever surprises – even a tropical beach is twisted into shape under her fingers. Uh oh! why is the cloth getting wet? The final texture turns out to be water, with Barbaroux dancing and splashing like a free spirit. Even if the very young don’t quite twig that it’s an adventure in growing up, from safe cocoon to (merrily aqua-planing) adulthood, the captivating visuals are a joy for all ages.

Runs until August 28

MR B – short for Bumblegrum – has no friends. Doesn’t want any. Go away.. But Shake Shake Theatre’s puppeteers, Jessica Nicholls and Pierre Filliez, know that his lonely story has a happy ending, one that audiences (aged 3+) should see for themselves. It’s all inside a very big book, the pages not just colourfully illustrated but enriched with pop-up additions or little windows that reveal cameos of shadow-play. Time was, Mr B was young and in love with a singer. He met her in the restaurant car of a train. And there it is, tiny and distant at first but then - puffing smoke – arriving on-stage, big enough for them to climb on board. When a lightning flash fells a tree, fatally crushing Mr B’s sweetheart in full view of everyone, he becomes the snarly, solitary grouch we encounter at the start. The loss of future happiness, the corrosive effects of profound grief – adults, and many works for little ones, would shy away from these dark and doom-laden topics. But the unfailing joy of this production lies in seeing Mr B realise, from within his own heart, that he has to emerge from such futile misery. Whereupon the snow-shrouded book bursts into a springtime of sprouting flowers, leafy trees and sunny beams. The miniaturised details are so entrancing, I’m not sure if the kisses we blew at the end were for Mr B – or for the puppeteers.

Runs until August 28

THERE IS a chance that children in the audience will know a Mikey or an Addie – they may even be a Mikey or an Addie, and know first hand what it feels like to be caught up in a bewilderment of truths, lies and choices that bring you to the cusp of adult decisions. Ten year old Mikey insists his Dad is a spaceman with NASA – why else wouldn’t he be at home with Mikey and his Mum? Classmate Addie smells a rat, but then she’s a fact-finding, organising, bossy-boots – and she wants to start a school web-hunt for thrilling news about Mikey’s orbiting dad. Addie has no "people skills". Soon Mikey’s world is falling apart. Addie’s too. It’s such a pile-up of lost trust, disappointment, confused emotions – Addie feels guilty for pushing Mikey into discovering where his father really is – that it surely can’t be made a laughing matter? But writer Robert Alan Evans and performer Andy Manley share an instinct for the believably ridiculous and for the way clever clogs and imaginative dreamers can easily do daft things. In this welcome re-staging of an earlier two-hander, Manley becomes the sole narrator and all the characters, from the earnest-tweedy keeper of the tale to the (impressively differentiated) Mikey and Addie. As significant space-age silvery items on plinths become down-to-earth everyday objects, it’s the value of friendship and self-knowledge that shines out for audiences (aged 9+ recommended) thanks to Manley’s gift for story-telling.

Runs until August 28