Children's Events Reviews
THE GREAT BUXTON BILBERRY BUMBLEBEE HUNT - BCHT and Friends of Buxton Station
Orange is the colour of the Fringe and also the main colour of Bilberry bumblebees – so a perfect blend. To help raise awareness of the decline of this bee and the importance of doing what we can to preserve and help all bees BCHT and Friends of Buxton Station have arranged a trail around the town.
Knitted bees, made by U3As Knit and Natter group, have been hidden around the town - each accompanied by a little information or fact about a bee and a letter. Collect all the letters to spell out a message. No spoilers from me!
A trail always provides a good opportunity to get to know a new place or see a familiar place in a new way. There are twenty to find and it’s all quite centrally contained between Spring Gardens and the Market Place, so easily done – and plenty of places to dodge out of the occasional rain shower!
Advertised as a children’s event – and it’s a great way to keep the wee ones entertained and active – with the added incentive of the opportunity to win a prize. But nothing to stop you doing it without a child in tow.
Trail maps can be collected from The Pump Rom, and there is also the opportunity to do some bee-related crafts and colouring.
Maria Carnegie
THE HUNGRY MONSTER AND OTHER STORIES - Rebecca Huff
What a charming event this was; a relaxing, delightful storytelling session to delight the young and not so young.
In the intimate, enfolding atmosphere of Scriveners Bookshop, author Rebecca Huff tells her story, The Hungry Monster, and around this story weaves a series of songs and stories that encourage her audience can join in. She’s a warm, friendly figure and her tales are great fun, involving simple puppet characters that also charm her audience. It’s a very inclusive session, with Rebecca making her young audience feel very welcome and adjusting her delivery to suit the attention spans of those in attendance.
I’m well past the age-group that it’s aimed at, but I found it just as delightful as it’s younger audience. Being Carnival day, there was a small turnout for this first performance, but I hope that more people come to the second performance on 20 July, as it’s a lovely, calming way to pass the time.
Robbie Carnegie
SCHOOL'S OUT COMEDY CLUB - Philip Simon
Philip Simon took to the stage on a warm Friday afternoon, having told his audience 'don't turn round!' when he introduced himself from the back of the room. Full of silly, family-friendly jokes he is a lively comic with the ability to balance a show aimed at kids with a level of self-deprecation and parental in-jokes to keep the accompanying adults onside.
The children in the audience ranged from 4 to 11 years old, and the show gained its direction from them. After a few initial knock-knock jokes, our jovial host encouraged audience members to take to the stage - a second microphone was even available - and share their favourite gags. Simon then took whatever theme their joke was on and delivered more gags based on it, whether this be pirates, animals, ghosts, and even stationery. His impressively wide knowledge of jokes that kids 'get' was honed during lockdown when he hosted online workshops, and his ability to quickly recall them while veering wildly between themes he had no control over meant the 45 minute show went deceptively quickly.
In case the audience aren't willing to share their own jokes, Simon is able to take theme suggestions directly, but during our show there were plenty of volunteers to share their own gags. Our own children - aged 9 and 11 - who had adamantly told us beforehand that they didn't want to volunteer for anything, surprised us by taking to the stage themselves (which goes to show how supportive they felt the environment was). They described the School's Out Comedy Club as 'great...so much fun', and we think in this case they're the experts!. They've even asked if they can go again to the next show on Saturday 20th July at 1pm!
Alice and Scott Allsop (with Edward, 9, and Leila, 11)
TINY! WILD AND WONDERFUL - Stone and Water
Tucked between the playground and the train in the Pavilion gardens we found the creative hive that Stone and Water had set up to encourage mainly children to ‘stop, think and make some weird, wild, wonderful and simply fantastic creatures’. I took along a small person to help me review this event which was aimed at children but proved just as immersive for people of all ages.
Stone and Water had provided some physical props in the form of castles, towers and magical trees, scattered around the area to inspire adventures for the creatures we made. They also provided inspiration for the creation of the hand/finger puppets that would have those adventures, as well as for lots of shiny glittery things to add to them. Little fingers and hands were carefully helped to fix in place the materials that would help bring alive the imaginary creatures in their heads.
From the conversations around the event shelter, it was clear that for many families this is now a regular feature of their Fringe, and they come back year after year to be inspired to have a magical adventure.
If you missed this this year do look out for other Stone and Water children’s events in the area and of course at the Fringe next year!
Sarah Wilks
THE TOOTH, THE WHOLE TOOTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TOOTH - Buxton Opera House Intermediate Young Company
Rustling sweet papers are a common enough sound at the theatre but anyone tucking into sugary treats while watching Buxton Opera House Intermediate Young Company perform their latest family musical will have felt pretty uncomfortable.
Written by Nic Gilder, The Tooth, the Whole Tooth and Nothing But the Tooth is single-minded in its determination to educate children about the benefits of looking after their teeth but it does so with plenty of humour, magic and fun as siblings Sebastian and Jenny find themselves in the fantastical Tooth Town after the fairies bungle the traditional, under-the-pillow, tooth-for-a-coin exchange. Sebastian, we happen to know, is not always that diligent about brushing his teeth and it quickly transpires that there is a more widespread crisis going on with bad fairy Cavity Kate involved in all sorts of dentally damaging naughtiness including tempting children to eat multi-coloured, sugar-coated marshmallows (which admittedly do sound amazing).
This mega show on the stage of the Pavilion Arts Centre boasted imaginative, expertly lit sets with a massive molar sign welcoming us to Tooth Town. Clear diction and microphones at the front of the stage made for good audibility (with the exception of a few speakers at the back) and considering the scale of the enterprise and the absence of one cast member there were relatively few fluffs. The singing in particular was confident and energetic throughout with Hope and Edale After School Musical Theatre Club to be congratulated on their word-perfect contributions as the Tooth Town Choir.
It was great to see such a last cast pulling together under Kitty Randle's expert direction and each participant should be congratulated on their commitment, however small their role. It was also fun to see how some of the larger parts were interpreted with Daisy DeMack utterly convincing as Mum, Ava Bearman entertaining as the shrill German dentist and Phoebe Owen really shining in her impassioned final song as Sebastian’s sister, Jenny. At the same time stand out performances from Rory Forrest as Sebastian and Beatrice Moore as Cavity Kate added greatly to the success of the show.
Some 80 people were in the audience and it was impressed on us from the start that we had a job to do as well in terms of cheering, booing and singing along. Thankfully with such energy on stage, this all came easily to us. This was a one-off show but we look forward to seeing this talented group at the Fringe in the future.
Stephanie Billen
