In the oasis of calm that is the community garden of North Edinburgh Arts, a swarm of busy bees are hushed into silence by a patient teacher whose cry of “macaroni cheese” is greeted by an obedient chorus of “everybody freeze”. A stillness which is followed by a lip-locking silence when “Spaghetti Bolognese” draws cries of “hands on your face”.

As they tiptoe indoors, a young boy pipes up to his father “What’s the show called?”. Upon hearing what he deems to be the uninspiring title of Stick By Me – a new show created by Andy Manley and Ian Cameron (White, Black Beauty) for the Boing International Family Festival at Gulbenkian in Kent which will play a three-week run at Dance Base during the Edinburgh Fringe – his response is as damning as a Simon Cowell put-down: “That sounds boring.”

Which is the polar opposite of what Noel Jordan, the director of the Edinburgh International Children’s Festival, calls “A true celebration of the nature of children’s play. Inventive and a little bit cheeky”. Though the opening scene is very much one of excruciating boredom as associated with being stuck indoors with nothing to do during the fast approaching long summer holidays.

Confined to a square from which any attempts to leave are greeted by a parental “No”, with his thighs bound to a school chair by duck tape and his head fixed to the hard surface of an open top wooden desk, the sole speechless character as played by Manley is as bored as bored can be. That is until he discovers a lollipop stick and a roll of sticky tape which he befriends and plays with to make the slow hands of the clock pass double quick.

With his innocent face and childlike demeanour, Manley has the target audience of 3 to 6 year olds in the palm of his hands. A cocked eyebrow provoking as much laughter as the late, great Ken Dodd’s tickling stick; while a furrowed brow and a quivering lip reduce the giggles to a charged silence of care and concern.

But what he and the show’s producer Red Bridge Arts ultimately celebrate is the joy of play and what the English novelist E M Forster famously called the need to “only connect”. And boy did Manley connect! A wonderful production bolstered by a light-touch score by Will Calderbank which unlike Manley’s gift to the departing audience deserves no stick!

Peter Callaghan
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