Edinburgh Fringe 2026
Showstopper! The Kids Show
Showstopper!
Genre: Comedy, Improvised Theatre, Musical Theatre
Venue: Pleasance Courtyard The Grand
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
A ridiculously inventive hour of musical theatre improv that hands much of the creative control to the children and then gleefully runs with whatever they throw at it. The talented Showstopper! cast turn even the wildest suggestions into songs, stories and huge laughs. A must-see family show that proves kids make improv even more unpredictable, and perhaps even funnier.
Review
Showstopper! The Kids Show is playing at the Pleasance Grand on Saturdays and Sundays throughout August.
Undisputed smash hit and West End wonder Showstopper! turns its hand to the entertainment of little ones with an age appropriate take on its incredible improvised musical theatre genius. The usual red and black-themed set is now dotted with splashes of colour and the words ‘Kids Show’ emblazoned across the back wall, alongside a number of images of toys, rockets and more that are on magnets, meaning they can be pulled from the wall if necessary and weaved into the show (see guitar playing rock and roll Bear later in the review).
This reviewer confesses to having seen Showstopper! a number of times, both in Edinburgh and in the West End and so it was clear that what was going to happen would be of a very high quality. However, the new angle placed upon a show with children in mind gives a really fresh approach to the way the improvisers operated. In the adult show (which is utterly excellent by the way) they take audience suggestions but are often willing to vote, reject or bend them to their own will in order to make the show work. The Kids Show, on the other hand, embraces the chaos. The suggestions they take from the children is accepted unquestioningly and although it is often not connected to the way the story is flowing at all, it makes it even more fun and absurd. The mind of a child is a wonderful thing.
What this leads to is a number of wonderfully spontaneous songs. Highlights included the surprisingly moving ‘Sad Robot’, the ‘Mammal Song’, which saw all the kids invited onto the stage to become the ensemble, the utterly bonkers ‘Electric Bear’ song and indeed the final number, which somehow ends up being about bears (thank you, random child, for that suggestion) despite the show itself having very little to do with actual bears. That is all part of the joy – there is just no knowing where the children’s imaginations will take the performers next.
The frankly disgustingly talented cast are in full creative improv flow throughout. They are ultimately playing the strictest game of ‘Yes, and…’, which demands that they accept everything thrown at them from the minds of the children, who give their instructions via the Story Master running around the audience with a microphone. Watching the performers not only incorporate these ideas but turn them almost instantly into coherent lyrics, melodies and scenes is an extraordinary feat.
This is 100% a must-see show. My cheeks ached from smiling and laughing throughout the whole hour. Some of the songs they whip up on the spot are genuinely better than a number of existing musical theatre songs. ‘Sad Robot’, in particular, is beautifully crafted and emotionally charged. Showstopper! The Kids Show proves that giving children the control doesn’t simplify great improv. If anything, their complete disregard for logic makes the performers work even harder and the results even funnier. Grab a kid and go – or just go yourself an tap into your inner child, you won’t regret it.
