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| Edinburgh : A&E : Festivals : Fringe Reviews |
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 Childrens |
Rating Guide None = Unmissable 
= UnwatchablePage number refers to the Fringe programme James Campbell's Onomatopoeia Society. (Page 11). Drams .Venue Gilded Balloon Teviot . Address 13 Bristo Square. Reviewer Juliet Morrish . James Campbell, a stand-up who tailors his material for children shows, has arrived at the Fringe this year with his first produced play for children. Campbell's show certainly has an interesting premise: the play centres around a society that wishes to replace everyday words with their onomatopoeic equivalents, in an attempt to bring the English language to life. Thus the dialogue is consistently punctuated with sounds ('coffee' becomes 'slurrrpaaaahhh'). This is initially confusing but Campbell trusts his young audience to cotton on soon enough, and it is this respectful and mature approach to children's entertainment that is particularly impressive. The plot itself is not so much complex as surreal and incredibly dark. Spiral Manley, the head of the Onomatopoeia Society performs a wedding ceremony between his secretary Stella and the newly employed Salvatore Salvatore only to later murder the groom with a floret of broccoli. As the lights come up the audience seems more stunned than humoured. Campbell's play tackles challenging ideas about language and words, best summarised by Salvatore's observation that language is already to an extent onomatopoeic, because words were devised to remind one of the things they denote. It is refreshing to see such an original piece of theatre for children. But the play would certainly benefit from more simply amusing moments. Those looking for jokes should see Campbell's stand-up show; those looking for something a bit different should take a visit to the Onomatopoeia Society. ©Juliet Morrish 13 August 2005 - Published on EdinburghGuide.com Runs to August 28 (not 16) at 14.45 Company Fat Cat Productions. Company Website www.fatcatproducts.co.uk
James Campbell's Comedy 4 Kids. (Page 11). Drams
. (Make mine a squash).Venue The Spiegel Garden (Venue 87). Address George Square Gardens. Reviewer Lyndsey Turner. James Campbell knows what he's doing. Faced with an audience of five year old eager to laugh, he judges perfectly the exact amount of material one could plausibly extract from an otter attack and is rewarded with the almost unearthly sound of a hundred children in fits of giggles. Comedy 4 Kids does exactly what it says on the tin. One of the only kids' comics on the festival circuit, Campbell never knowingly patronises his young audience (although some rather outré material about Grade 1 piano exams comes rather near the knuckle). From the very first moments of the show, Campbell reveals himself to be a performer uniquely in tune with the enthusiasms, tastes and anxieties of children. Some excellent material on the Playstation 2 (including a pithy little song) goes down a treat and has the older children nodding their approval and recognition within seconds. Working off the crowd, Campbell volunteers to name a youngster's stuffed rabbit, hauls a young girl on stage to practice her scales and baits a particularly perverse young man without ever overstepping the mark. If ever a comedian had his audience in the palm of his hand, it is Campbell. A born storyteller with a great line in silly voices, he is at his best when riffing off the natural surrealism of children. However, he doesn't quite seem to have enough material to fill his hour long slot, and soon he is taking requests and plugging his other Fringe shows. Comedy 4 Kids is back at this year's festival by popular demand, but at times Campbell seemed to be merely treading water. It is a testament to his great skill, though, that he had almost every adult member of the audience chortling with delight throughout the set. ©Lyndsey Turner 19 August 2005 - Published on EdinburghGuide.com Plays 20, 27 Aug at 16.00. Company - James Campbell.
Lifeboat. (Page 12). Drams None required. Venue Assembly at George Street, Assembly Rooms. (Venue 3). Address 54 George Street. Reveiwer Ariadne Cass. For a children's show, this is one of the most widely appealing peices of theatre I've seen in a long time. It may even be the best show I've seen all festival. Lifeboat is all about British Pluck, that quality of cheerful, pragmatic courage which was so prevalent during World War Two, particularly amongst the civilian population of Britain. Two girls, Beth, Isabelle Joss, and Bess Walder, Suzanne Robertson, having had their ship bombed, cling desperately to an overturned lifeboat. We learn of their past life as the play progresses. They have been evacuated from England and find themselves on a ship bound for Canada, where they develop a friendship based on their mutual love of The Wizard Of Oz. This is used thematically throughout to illustrate the Americanisms which were even then beginning to creep into British culture, and the WW2 fear of the enemy ('Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!'). But the prevailing attitudes in this are of that particular generation of British. This play never dips into towards overt nostalgia or sentimentality, but it does, for the sake of its children, explain who Hitler and Prime Minister Chamberlain were. The end is so moving that several members of the audience are visibly emotional. I notice that some of the children look slightly bemused by the reactions of their parents and grandparents. Do children of this generation have to be taught about British Pluck? Perhaps they do, and maybe the elements of Americanisms in the play foreshadow the attitudes to come in this generation. As long ago and World War Two was, it is still pertinent. It is important that we tell children of this generation true stories like this. This production is brilliantly staged. The set looks both like the framework of boat and of a two - up, two - down house. The actors use rope to aid their physicality as they are tossed by the storm and then left to drift. The lighting and sound design anchor the location, particularly the creaking, cold scenes in the ocean. Best of all is the acting, which is absolutely superb. Suzanne Robertson and Isabelle Joss play all of the characters, with wonderful generosity and warmth. I am completely transported. This is a very good production and a very important play. ©Ariadne Cass August 2005 - Published on EdinburghGuide.com Runs 6 - 28, Aug 2005 Company - Catherine Wheels Theatre Company. Company Website www.catherinewheels.co.uk
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