The Showstoppers’ Kids Show – Edinburgh Festival Fringe – Pleasance Courtyard

The Showstoppers’ Kids Show continues at the Pleasance Courtyard until 19 August 2018.

Star rating: four stars ★★★★✩

Having long admired Showstoppers! The Improvised Musical, it seems only fair to see how the junior version works out… The essential formula remains the same: a team of five multi-skilled performers are supported by keyboards and percussion as they use suggestions from the audience to create a one-off show.

Gently warming the audience up, the cast pick up on details as the audience fill the theatre: a striped T-shirt suggests the wearer must be a pirate; a glittery headband must belong to a royal personage and so forth. This gently implants the notion that the audience are the leaders here and with some very young audience members, this requires a bit of skill in the handling of it.

Unlike the adult version, all suggestions are treated as being full of potential. The audience I was part of came up with characters including a Victorian Batman along with Horrid Henry, Superman, the Easter Bunny and cheese being the route to world peace. This juxtaposition satisfied both the adults and youngsters in the audience – albeit on entirely different levels!

Rapport between the cast and musicians is of the highest order and all keep the audience to the forefront of everything that they do – constantly reading the temperature and taking the pulse of the room, knowing just when and how to maintain high-quality engagement. Audience participation is particularly well-handled, inviting without threat for youngsters to join them on stage whilst always leaving the option to ‘join in’ from your seat. The Batman song and dance created onstage with some of the audience was particularly successful.

At the end of the show, the young folk are invited onstage to draw something from the show and to meet the cast. So much more satisfying for them than just applauding and leaving. Some great qualities here making it a strong recommendation for grown-ups to take the under-12s to and for them to enjoy together.

Fiona Orr