Category Archives: Uncategorized

Book Festival Opens Today !… 12th-28th August

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So, the Book Festival is finally opening, and we are being treated to a few weeks of the lovely, calm space that the Book Festival offers amidst the hustle and bustle of the fringe festival ! We love exploring the children’s bookshop and then seeing what arts and crafts and activities are going on in the story box space.

This weekend , alongside some great author events you may be attending, the Baillie Gifford Story Box will be hosting these fantastic and free drop in workshops:

Design a Pop-up MuseumSaturday 12th August 11am – 4.30pm Design A Pop-Up Museum

Come along and join V&A Dundee and be inspired by their giant pop-up museum in a book. Then work with a designer to create your own mini museum to take away.

Scottish Chamber Orchestra's Instrument ArmourySunday 13th August   11am – 4.30pm  Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s Instrument Armoury

Have you ever seen musicians on stage and wondered what it would be like to play a musical instrument? Now’s your chance to give it a shot with talented performers from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Tune up on a cello, flutter on the flute or toot a trumpet to see which is your favourite.

Stunning Summerhall

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Summerhall is an absolutely brilliant venue, and every year the programme of shows and events gets bigger and better. They always host the Roundabout venue, which is well worth checking out. They have a delicious cafe and their own gin distillery and beer brewery which is a welcome touch ! It’s the perfect venue for spending an entire day, seeing shows and hanging out…

Once again, they have a fantastic line up of family friendly shows including these top picks:

How To Be A Kid– See our full review here. This show is suited to older children (age 7+) and has some spectacular storytelling and acting. ”Molly cooks. Molly does the dishes. Molly gets her little brother Joe ready for school. Molly is only 12, but she doesn’t feel much like a kid anymore. Now Molly’s Mum is feeling better, maybe things will get back to normal. Can you help Molly learn how to be a kid again?”

Jihan’s Smile – Only on until the 13th August. Al Harah Theatre is a theatre company based in the West Bank in Palestine, and is one of the longest running in the region, making theatre for both adults and children under extremely challenging circumstances. Jihan’s Smile tells the story of Jihan, an ordinary child, who woke up one day to discover that she had lost her smile.

Eaten – This one sounds really fun ! – What if your food started talking back? Meet Lionel the lion. He’s just eaten a human called Mamoru for lunch. But Lionel hasn’t chewed his food well. So Mamoru’s alive and well in his stomach, and now wants to say hello.

 

No Show – An all female circus troupe which sounds fab – What do you expect when you go to the circus? The glitzy smiles, the glitter of sequins, the drum rolls as performers effortlessly perform death-defying acts? No Show joyously and heartbreakingly goes behind the flawless smiles and perfect execution to reveal the wobbles, the pain, and the real cost of aiming for perfection.

 

So, plenty to keep you busy then !!!

 

 

First Week Highlights….2017

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So, it’s probably not technically the first full week of the festival- but with previews shows that we were seeing last week, it has been for us; and what an amazing first week it’s been ! We’ve seen such a variety of shows and been out exploring all the family friendly places to hang out at the festival and sampling some of the rather tasty treats on offer too!! How great to get some sunshine aswell….

For now my highlights have been :

Arr We There Yet ? – A total treat of an hour – pirates, sea shanties, swashbuckling sword fighting fun and lots of impressive acrobatics !! Add to the mix some silly puns and its entertaining for the whole family ! Climb aboard and enjoy the fun….

The Road That Wasn’t There – Wonderful, immersive storytelling with dark edges….a beautiful tale of adventures and maps, with a haunting soundtrack, intricate puppets and lots of mystery !

Mavis Sparkle– It’s hard not to love Mavis Sparkle, with her glitter, her impressive cleaning trolley with all the little doors and surprises, her cheeky cuckoo clock and her friend Spike!

Circus Abyssinia – This was soooooooooo fun !! A great family friendly circus show, with plenty of colour and energy, spectacular pole acrobatics, crazy contortion-ism and lots lots more !

Other hot tips on the family friendly grapevine are :

The Listies Make You LOL – With plenty of poo jokes, alien attacks and dirty underpants, these guys are well worth checking out !!

Nick Cope – Our family loves Nick Cope – and you’re never too young to discover the wonder of his brilliant, humorous and melodic songs about such things as dragons named Keith, pirates, dinosaurs and of course…poo ! Read our review from last year here

 

Super Spectacular Circus Hub 2017

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Image result for edinburgh circus hubThe rather fantastic Circus Hub has returned to the Meadows this year, bringing with it a huge range of family friendly circus shows and some old favourites like the Trash Test Dummies ! I’ve already been lucky enough to check a few of the shows out, and also sample the delicious churros on sale !!

It feels like the variety of circus shows grows at the festival every year, and this year we have a bumper crop of superb circus to choose from, and rather fantastically, most of the shows are family friendly – yay !!

My top five picks are :

Arr We There Yet ? – Head first Acrobats bring us a kids show full of pirates, swashbuckling adventures, some amazing acrobatics and lots and lots of fun ! We had a fantastic time and the kids couldn’t stop giggling ……(and these guys have the most amazing and fun show for adults – Elixir – I’ve seen it twice now and it’s absolutely hilarious-just don’t bring the kids! )

Trash Test Dummies – These guys are a firm favourite with my family – dustbins, acrobatics and much silliness ! What more do you need ? (read  review  here)

 

All The Fun – A hypnotic, tongue-in-cheek antidote to the glittering circus world. You’re invited beyond the everyday 1, 2, 3 of juggling in an ever-changing space, with the performers balancing objects and throwing bodies, rendering failure just as visible as sweat.

Circus Abyssinia:Ethiopian Dreams – An unashamedly joyful mix of astonishing stunts, astounding circus skills and enchanted adventure, Circus Abyssinia: Ethiopian Dreams follows the magical journey of two little Ethiopian brothers whose dream of joining the circus is made real by the Man in the Moon.

Kin – The boys from the 2015 smash Bromance are back in this red-hot, five-star circus show… and they’ve brought friends! Lots of humour makes this circus piece really accessible for families, and children will be amazed at the talents and skills of the performers. Highly recommended….

 

 

 

First day ….

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I’ve had a brilliant kick off to the festival, it’s actually more of a day and a half but we’ve dived straight in and four shows down we’re loving it and looking forward to much much more !

On Wednesday we went and saw Morgan and West’s : More Magic For Kids which we loved , you can read the review here – they are such a fantastic duo, charming the audience with their wit and had the children non stop giggling with their rather silly magic ! I’d definitely recommend it , but like last year, it was busy so get tickets early !

We did some hanging out in George Square gardens with the fake grass and picnic benches, and the rather delicious hot donut stall (!)….

Yesterday was our first full day, packing in three shows. We started off with the magical and rather lovable Mavis Sparkle….a really gentle and enticing show about Mavis who’s a cleaner and her cuckoo clock and mystery pet Spike – sprinkled with magic tricks and some beautiful shadow puppetry, it really is very very engaging!

 

Then we got stuck into some of the fabby arts and crafts at the Kidzone – my two made some fun shrinkies and badges and are already planning to go back next week for pom pom wasps and fairy jars !!

Next up we saw the utterly enchanting and captivating The Road That Wasn’t There – Trick of the Light Theatre have once again brought some incredible storytelling and intricate paperwork and puppetry to the festival. It is best suited for older children (says 8+) with a slightly dark edge to the story at times, but we were lost for an hour, totally lost in the story and loving the set, the songs, the puppets and of course the maps…..one not to be missed I’d say.

We finished up with the mad, musical, colourful extravaganza that is China Goes Pop ! Again I would suggest getting tickets early as the queue was massive !! It was very quirky and very fun, with some amazing acrobatics, an infectious pop soundtrack and lots of very smiley, happy performers bringing us an hour of hoops, scooters, circus and hats !!

Phew…..I feel like I need a rest after all that lot, but today I’m looking forward to the BBC tent opening !