Showing @ Summerhall, Edinburgh until Sun 25 Aug (odd dates only) @ 14:00
The yurt is respectably busy for this performance but only a handful of the audience are children. This could be seen as a shame, however it is equally a testament to the broad appeal of this brand of high quality clowning.
The Story of a Man and his Shadow, presented by Principio Attivo Teatro (one of three companies who have banded together to form YurtaKids!) tells a timeless, simple story that children will recognise from hundreds of cartoons and stories. Put simply it is a struggle between good, (in the form of a Mr. Bean-like “everyman” character) and bad, (in the form of a creepy skeletal mischief-maker with a long nose and a top hat). There’s not much plot beyond this but there are chase scenes, a boxing match, uneasy alliances and plenty of slapstick humour, all punctuated with live music and simple sound effects. The 55-minute time slot seems a little longer than needed to tell such a simplistic story. Some of the children present at this performance showed occasional signs of restlessness but they never had to wait long before another comical action sequence came around to captivate them once again.
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