Edinburgh Fringe 2024
Low Down
A loose script is perfect for this in the hands of as an exceptionally skilled improviser as Maxwell. It is crafted into sections which keep the children engaged and works so well whilst all of the props, though simple are effective.
Review
What an exceptional 45 minutes in the company of a man who knows how to keep those pesky kids entertained. I sat for the full 45 minutes smiling. I couldn’t help it. The looks on the innocent faces of the kids was a joy to behold. It was more than that. It was simply delightful.
I looked around me at various times just to check that the audience were on board with everything, and they were enthralled. Never mind a cynical critic coming in to watch and give a critique, the hardest audience in the world was in the venue and they were lapping it up. Mums were sitting beside and being extremely happy, including one fairy mum with wings who was full on supporting a reluctant daughter who still whooped with joy at the right times.
Maxwell is a thoroughly engaging host. The beginning is slow, and gentile and I was worried that he might lose his audience by being so considered in his approach, but that consideration was setting the scene and the agenda for the timing and temperature of the show. There was no danger here – aside from a slippy mat on the floor – which he covered more than adequately.
It was that simplicity – after all water, fairy liquid and a succession of circles is hardly Shakespearean –is what marks this as quite a unique experience. Maxwell has a structure. He might not slavishly follow a script, but the looseness means his interactions are both genuine and opportunities. He can make the jokes, and he can try and stop the children always trying to burst the bubbles. He is also there, however, to take them by the hand metaphorically and guide them through the session.
And what a session it is – we have bubbles within bubbles, bubbles that go up instead of down, bubbles that hang in the air as if held by magic and bubbles that swallow children up in the only suggested jeopardy of the show. And don’t the kids love that, waving to their mothers and sisters as they might “pop” when the bubbles do and disappear forever. But they know they shall still be there….
You can often become really cynical and look for the deep, dark and meaningful in a square darkened box of intense emotional depth, but sometimes the joy on the face of the child dispels such dark cynicism and Maxwell gave me a start to my day I did not expect. This was children’s entertainment of the highest level with a highly skilled artist who gave more than the entrance fee in effect though had a wonderfully languid approach meaning we lost the stress and found the joy – imagine that with your toddlers!
