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Punch & Judy &
Other Tales - Tour.
Part of the 2003 Puppet and Animation Festival in Scotland.
Puppeteers - Keith & Avril Hardie.
Company - Kidgloves Puppets.
Seen to review on Monday 14th April at The Gateway Theatre Edinburgh.
Run Time - 50mins.
Suggested Age - 4 years+.
Reviewer - Kim Bradie.
Fast high energy production.
Kidgloves entertain us with five well-known classic tales along with the
universal favourite Punch & Judy. Also presented in the traditional
Puppet Booth are the stories of the Billy Goats Gruff, Pandora's Box,
Little Red Riding Hood, The Fox and the Crow and the Lion and the Mouse.
The fragmented structure of this show is easy for young children to digest
with every story lasting no longer than five or ten minutes. The audience
are engaged for the entire duration with lots of "what's next mummy?"
as the curtain ends one tale for another to begin.
Glove puppets and a few on sticks are colourful and varied, and have obviously
been very well loved!
Although these stories are old favourites there are a few subtle changes
to the texts. It's a relief to see a rather tame version of Little Red
Riding Hood in which the wolf is after a Chicken that Red has brought
to grannies house - no mention of gobbling up the poor girl and her grandmother
and certainly no woodcutter slicing the wolf open to release them.
It was a first encounter with Punch & Judy for my three year old and
he was not disappointed - they are hilarious. The theatre is filled with
peels of laughter as the dog runs off with the sausages, Punch struggles
with the baby while a big green dragon saves the day!
This show is recommended for 4+ but there were plenty of babies and toddlers
enjoying the action too - and with lots of opportunity for audience participation
("He's behind you"etc) this is a fast high energy production
and an all round winner.
© Kim Bradie 14 April 2003. - Published on EdinburghGuide.com
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