Our first horrible review!!!

Well, it had to happen eventually; a reviewer who doesn't like our show. But what a review! No one else gets their shows compared to another. We're not too sure what this reviewer was thinking by doing this as the review doesn't help us or the other company. There's nothing to learn or gain from the review - WHAT A COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME.

Still - do read it for yourselves.


The Elves & The Shoemaker ***

ANDREW EATON

QUAKER MEETING HOUSE (VENUE 40)

SILLY BILLY BUM BREATH STRIKES BACK ****

PLEASANCE COURTYARD (VENUE 33)

HERE, performed at around the same time of day, are two radically different approaches to entertaining children. At venue 40, Theatre of Widdershins offer an elaborate, lovingly designed wooden set, lots of puppets and a morality tale about greedy big business leaving a small-town shoemaker in poverty (an anti-corporate message close to this small, family-run theatre company's hearts, perhaps). At the Pleasance, meanwhile, two women jump about on a bare stage making jokes about wee.

Call me childish, but I'll take the wee jokes any day. The Elves and the Shoemaker has a lot of charm, and measuring children's feet as they come in is a lovely way to start things off, but it's an awkward show, with odd ideas about how to ingratiate itself to a young audience. The sight of a middle-aged man using the words "chill" and "wicked" is never far from embarrassing, and the prolonged, elf fashion show left the young audience I saw it with more baffled than enchanted.

I'm not sure if Theatre of Widdershins would approve of Silly Billy Bum Breath Strikes Back, but they could learn a little from Laura Black and Feri Tezcan's brilliant ability to tune precisely into what children find funny - wee, yes, but also a sense of the absurd and the surreal. Between them, Black and Tezcan play naughty children and comedy nannies, play tricks on the Queen, and throw custard pies. I've been told this year's show is more childish than last year's, which I missed. Fine. It has no message, and no educational value whatsoever, but it had parents and children hooting with laughter. That's enough, surely?

The Elves and the Shoemaker until 25 August. Today 2.30pm. Silly Billy Bum Breath until 27 August. Tomorrow 2pm


Anyway, the show went well today despite the review being a big dampener.

This evening we've been to see some fantastic live music provided by Tripod - a group from Oz. What a laugh.