Treasure Island
By Robert Louis Stevenson. A Wee Stories theatre review.
IAIN Johnstone is adrift on a raft in the middle of the ocean. Talking directly to the audience, he sets the scene. "No ships, no land, no aeroplanes," he says. This being the day UK airports have finally reopened after the Icelandic volcano, it is an adlib that gets a laugh of recognition.
One Giant Leap
Wee Stories review.
IN its second collaboration with the National Theatre of Scotland, Wee Stories is boldly going where no children's theatre company has gone before. That's not only because of its successful marriage of entertainment, visual surprises and education, but also because of its stand against religious dogma. Performer Iain Johnstone doesn't go quite as far as denouncing God, but he is unequivocal in blaming the church for hampering the development of our knowledge about the universe. And it's not every children's show that does that.
19 September 08 The Guardian
One Giant Leap
Wee Stories review.
PROFESSOR Michael Reiss should have bided his time. Instead of causing all that hullabaloo over creationism in science lessons, the Royal Society's now ex-director of education should simply have prescribed One Giant Leap for every school in the land Though the head-spinning production by Wee Stories and the National Theatre of Scotland does not address creationism head on, in its humanist inquiry into 2,500 years of scientific thinking about space, it persuasively argues that the greatest enemy of knowledge is foundationless religious dogma.
The Emperor's New Kilt
Wee Stories review.
"SOMETIMES the scariest thing can be your own imagination," says the independently minded Rhona as she explains to a golden eagle (by the name of Glen) that the giant crow he is frightened of is actually his own shadow.
21 April 08 Variety
The Emperor's New Kilt
Wee Stories review.
WHEN Hans Christian Andersen wrote "The Emperor's New Clothes" in 1837, he wasn't thinking about land ownership in the Scottish Highlands. Nor did he have any concern for Scotland's burgeoning music hall tradition. But even though these are two of the unlikely themes that emerge in Wee Stories' raucous, big-hearted retelling of the parable, "The Emperor's New Kilt" is a production that is as true to Andersen's radical spirit as it is rich in ideas of its own.
18 April 08 Northings
The Emperor's New Kilt
Wee Stories review.
THE first one to get naked is not the emperor at all. It's Ramsay, the loveable sheep, whose fleece is sheered off to supply the wool for the laird's new birthday suit. Taking the role with wide-eyed gusto, Andy Cannon goes from a happy looking animal in black hat and white Arran jumper to a skinny creature in long johns, trapped in a clothes-horse cage, his insides destined to form the laird's celebratory haggis.
Arthur: The Story of a King
Wee Stories review.
THERE'S SOMETHING about the knights of the round table that brings out the theatrical best in Scottish companies. A decade ago, Edinburgh's Royal Lyceum produced one of its most extravagant stagings in the form of Tankred Dorst's Merlin. Now the children's company Wee Stories has produced a wonderfully exuberant boy's-own adventure based on the same Dark Ages legend.
theatreSCOTLAND © Mark Fisher 2009–2010
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