Rounding the corner past the Scottish Museum and nipping down the road to the kaleidoscopic pandemonium that is Bristo Square is an event in itself. The fact that the vast upside-down purple cow of Underbelly is this year unexpectedly basking in the sunshine is perhaps the icing on this psychedelic cake.
If you’re soaking up the collective mayhem of singers, movers and mad-hatters competing for your attention and are looking for a soothing oasis of calm that is nonetheless dusted with its own poetic magic, then step through the Pasture and into the Cowbarn.
The Magician’s Daughter was written by Michael Rosen, a previous Children’s Laureate who is perhaps best known for the ubiquitous chants and accompanying noises of We’re Going On A Bear Hunt.
He is, however, even better known for his ability to introduce the young ones to ideas, themes and texts that should be beyond them, yet are conveyed by his pen with such a touching clarity that they become instinctively apprehendable. The tale recounted in this piece could almost be a children’s sequel to Shakespeare’s The Tempest, serving as an introduction to some of its key characters and themes.
In this story, Miranda’s daughter, Isabella, is one night propelled by the power of Grandpa Prospero’s magic across Italy to the isle of her mother’s childhood. There she encounters Caliban and Ariel, reunites the two halves of Prospero’s staff and uses its power to stop the rainstorm back home. When she wakes in the morning, the storm has passed, the sun is shining - but the staff is gone.
Prospero’s voice is heard quoting from the Tempest, ‘we are such stuff as dreams are made on and our little life is rounded with a sleep’, leaving us to wonder whether it was indeed all a dream.
With a range of instruments and songs, simple yet effective puppetry and a bit of audience participation to keep the kids thoroughly engaged, this was an entrancing tale told with delightful skill and sincerity. The presence of the absent wizards was keenly felt throughout and it was therefore rather eerily fitting that it was Rosen’s voice we heard on the occasions when Prospero was directly quoted.
Michael Rosen has once again cleverly used his love of words to transmit a story that absorbs and challenges children without alienating or patronising and Lizzie Wort as Miranda and Clare Rebekah Pointing as Isabella carried it magnificently to a spell-bound young audience.
Show Times: Running until Aug 27th (not on the 15th), 1:15pm
Ticket Prices: £11.00 (£10.00) Mon-Thurs, £12.00 (£11.00) Fri-Sun