So, last year, we had a guest reviewer on this website who started to explore the slightly under-catered for and under-represented older children’s/teenage shows. There seems to be hundreds of shows for children, getting their own section of the Fringe programme, but these cater really for the under 12’s….and only a handful even really are aimed for older children within that broad age range….
So what about the teenage market ? If you are trying to negotiate the Fringe programme with children this age, it can get quite tricky. Some circus shows are fantastic for all ages, then they start to have age restrictions and its hard to know exactly why – is it the humour, the nudity, any sexual jokes perhaps ?? Comedy has the same challenges, will they understand the material used?- as does theatre – and of course each teenager will be different with what content they can enjoy or understand.
This year, we have tried to review even more shows within this category, and it’s been great – to distinguish these from other children’s/family shows we are reviewing – I’ve put their age ratings in brackets by the reviews, so you know before reading the review that it’s specifically for older children. It’s still very much a work in progress and something we’d like to dedicate a bit more time to – how to cater for this market – if anyone knows of companies creating work with this age group in mind, we’d be really keen to hear about it.
For now, the shows we’ve explored so far are :
edinburghfestivalsforkids 