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"THE BEST CHILDREN'S THEATRE THE WORLD HAS TO OFFER"
 
 
THE SCOTSMAN
 
 
 
 
Festival 2006 Archive
The 2006 Festival presented a total of 13 world class productions for children aged between 1 and 14 years and their families.

Below is a short round-up of the 2006 programme.

Age: 1+
Compagnie Lili Désastres (France)
Are We There Yet Picture Scribble
1-3 year olds

Scribble is a very small person who wears a big jacket and a pointy black hat. She’s very clever! Using a sheet of white paper, she cuts, glues and folds, and, with a little splotch here and a little scribble there, she’s suddenly inside it – in and out she goes, sometimes in front, sometimes behind, maybe on top and even below ….amazing!

This is a story that adults find too complicated to understand but what do they know? Very young children, even one year olds on the other hand, know what Scribble is all about with her little gestures, movements and melodies. Because, you see, they know what fun and laughter is about.

 
 
   
 
 
Age: 3+
Schnawwl Kinder und Jugendtheater am Nationaltheater Mannheim (Germany)
A Cloud’s Journey
3-7 year olds
Cirrus is a big fluffy cloud who has travelled plenty in her life. A curious cloud, her favourite thing is to let the wind blow her around the world taking in many countries, people and animals, oceans and forests. One day, she meets a child who wants to learn more about the world. Cirrus agrees and so their journey begins…..

A Cloud’s Journey is a theatrical delight for all senses packed with magical transformations, colours, secrets and the aroma of the whole wide world! Give your senses a treat!
   
Age: 4+
Teater Refleksion (Denmark)
Psst!
4-10 year olds

In the world of the circus everything is possible. Psst!…yes you!…All you have to do is believe in it.

Psst! is a puppet theatre performance with a ballerina, jugglers and clowns. A symphony of extravagant circus acts, poetic incidents, moving stories and crazy happenings. The puppets, performers and even the staging, reveal secrets and surprises.

   
Age: 5+

Tall Stories/Network of Stuff (England)

Zouff Picture Them With Tails
5-11 year olds
It’s true. It’s not a rumour. They’re coming back to Edinburgh. Seize this once in a lifetime opportunity and meet the infamous… Them With Tails. Prepare to be amazed as they tell three unlikely tales and one impossible one.

Gasp as you meet characters from all over the world... Roar as animals come to life before your very eyes...

Stories, comedy and a lot of silliness come together in a world where your most ridiculous thoughts can spring to life...Use your imagination to invent your own story. It's never the same show twice!

 
Teater Refleksion / De Røde Heste (Denmark)
Cinderella's Sisters Picture Goodbye Mr. Muffin
5-9 year olds
Once Mr. Muffin was young, strong and proud. He could carry a whole cucumber on his back! Now he is old, tired and grey. He sits alone in his house and remembers...

In an atmosphere of warmth, humour and respect Goodbye Mr. Muffin tells the heart-rending story of the last days in the life of a beloved guinea pig and of the feelings and emotions experienced during the passing of a much loved pet. Bring a box of hankies or maybe just a shoulder to cry on …!

Age:6+
Puppentheater am Meininger Theater (Germany)
Kashtanka Picture The Brave Tin Soldier
6-11 year olds
Hans Christian Andersen's classic tale of the Brave Tin Soldier is all about what it is like to live your life as an "outsider". After all, what can a soldier do when he has only one leg? How brave can he be? What use is a toy which isn't perfect, how much chance is there of love and affection? Discarded and ignored, his physical imperfection seems to define his fate. But wait .... The sight of a beautiful dancing ballerina changes everything. The Brave Tin Soldier knows immediately that she will understand, and know, and feel, exactly as he does, for she too is standing on just one leg!

The Brave Tin Soldier is a story about the wonder, as well as the challenge, of being different, a story to move you, make you think, and to enjoy!

   
Age: 7+
Plutôt La Vie (Scotland)
A Clean Sweep
7-14 year olds
Household chores will never seem the same again!

A brilliant blend of theatre clowning, dance and visual storytelling. Two men try to survive in an anarchic world of brooms, dust brushes, chimney brushes, scrub brushes, clothes brushes, toothbrushes and hairbrushes, doing anything but cleaning up. A show that explores the ordinary and transforms it into the extraordinary! If you miss this then you’d have to be … as daft as a brush!
 
Gruppe 38 (Denmark)
The Little Match Girl
7-12 year olds
Gruppe 38 makes a welcome return to this year’s festival with Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairytale, The Little Match Girl. The story of the little girl who is afraid to go home because she hasn’t sold enough matches. A story of sadness, but with a joyous message of faith, hope and love. Above all, it is a fairytale, and fairytales are life and life must be lived to the full ... happily … ever after.
Age: 8+
Theatergroep Max.
(The Netherlands)
LOVE
8-12 year olds
Feverish letters, thrilling meetings, knocking knees, and a painful farewell in the middle of a fairytale forest. Love makes you laugh and cry.

Love is just pure magic. Love can suddenly happen, unexpectedly, by accident and it is fantastic but a little scary. But sometimes love can be dangerous because sometimes it isn’t really love but something else, something that you need to discover to save your heart and your soul.

Love is a humorous physical parody of the mating dance, full of subtle references to films, fairytales and familiar love songs from one of Holland’s most accessible and adventurous children’s theatre companies.

Freshmess (Scotland)
Triple Bill
8-14 year olds
Let the sparks fly as contemporary dance meets Hip-Hop, add a dash of Street and Poppin', spice it up with more than the occasional blast of Lockin' and Breakdance and, finally, have it mixed and shaken by three of Scotland's most highly-acclaimed choreographers – Allan Irvine, Frank McConnell and Ethelinda Lashley-Johnston! This dynamic and explosive mix is brought together by award-winning dance crew, Freshmess, as this year's Festival proudly presents the premiere of a triple bill of new dance pieces.

Each has its own story to tell. Expect the unexpected on a journey of discovery where the boundaries between dance, music and even sign language are explored.

Be challenged, be inspired, be moved, be happy as Freshmess do their stuff!

 
Dundee Rep Ensemble/ Scottish Dance Theatre (Scotland)
Monkey
8-14 year olds
The magic is back!
Over a thousand years ago in ancient China, a cheeky Monkey King roams the land with nothing on his mind but joking and playing. One day the mischievous Monkey disobeys Buddha, who locks him up in a mountain for 500 years… But the nature of Monkey is irrepressible! Buddha gives him one more chance and sends him on a very important mission.

Pigsy, the pig monster and Sandy, the water monster, hitch a ride with Monkey on his magic cloud. Together they must battle demons, dragons and Yama, the God of death. Monkey can only succeed by using all of his amazing powers and it’s not going to be easy!

With its magical mix of dance, drama, martial arts, crazy encounters, bold humour, live musicians, a big cast of colourful characters and a healthy dose of Enlightenment, Monkey is a spectacular, action-adventure not to be missed.

Roberto Abbiati (Italy)
The Giraffe’s Journey
8-14 year olds
“Roll up, Roll up, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls.

Look with wonder, stare in amazement at one of rarest sights in the Animal Kingdom.

Let me present to you, the one, the only Camelopardalis Giraffe.

Just between you and I, to be honest, he might be a bit past his prime, but he’s unique, and very, very special.

Why don’t you come and join me in my little tent and let me tell you the story, his story and mine, of our journey together from the plains of Africa to the heart of France in the year, 1824.

Some might say it’s a tall story but, believe me, it’s true.”

Age: 10+
Visible Fictions (Scotland)
Shopping for Shoes
10-14 year olds
A play by Tim Crouch about passion and fashion, and hearts and soles
 
 Siobhan McClusky is 13 and passionately politically aware. Shaun Holmes is also 13 and passionate about only one thing - shoes.
 
A small part of Siobhan’s heart belongs to Shaun but he would have difficulty putting a name to her face. Undeterred and with a little bit of planning and nifty footwork, she soon helps him discover that a pair of shoes can do more than just help a person express themselves.
 
Shopping for Shoes is a funny and heart-warming tale of new found-love, dog poo and of course…shoes.