Gilded Balloon
Malcolm wakes on his 11th birthday and doesn’t quite get the present he was hoping for, instead of a brand new, super duper laptop, he gets a pet Chinchilla …and we are treated to a fantastic musical, filled with tons of humour and sharp wit!
For Malcolm it gets worse -he doesn’t exactly share in his family’s love of animals (a result of an incident called ‘monkey moment’) and is therefore less than excited at the prospect of a school trip to a farm. However after meeting a rather magical goat, and finding himself transformed into a tortoise, the fun really begins !! Malcolm befriends his fellow tortoises, Benny and Bjorn who are hugely entertaining and finds himself on a journey of discovery as he turns into a host of other animals….these changes are performed seamlessly with clever lights and perfect costume enhancements to bring the animals alive ! Each one imparts some wisdom along the way, and as Malcolm slowly learns to love the various creatures he spends time with, he also learns that appearances aren’t important – it’s what is on the inside that counts, a message that resonated with the children I brought along….
A marvellous, energetic show that stands out for being extremely slick and professional and keeping everyone hugely absorbed. Join Malcolm in his adventures being surrounded by a lot of the things he really rather dislikes….
My mini reviewers said : ”I liked how the moral for the tortoise was it doesn’t matter what you look like on the outside, it matters what’s on the inside …”
”Calling the pig Fatty Bum Bum made me giggle..”
edinburghfestivalsforkids 