Edinburgh Fringe 2026
The Truth about Trees
Apropos Theatre
Genre: Children's Theatre, Puppetry, Shadow Puppets
Venue: Assembly Festival
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
When Alfie’s Grandpa reveals that paper, if made correctly, can tell the story of the tree it came from, Alfie isn’t sure whether to believe him. Once he starts to listen closely, Alfie realises that he is the only one listening. He must spring into action to save the trees from being chopped down. The Truth About Trees is a story about nature, told using actors, puppets and shadows.
Review
A delightful way to start your Fringe morning if you have a young family.
We’re greeted by the cast from a welcoming set with items that any young child will recognise – a bed, shelves, toy boxes. It serves as bedroom, school, forest, and Grandpa’s greenhouse. Everything the cast need is within reach enabling the story to keep moving forward but with plenty of variety in the approach to keep a young audience engaged.
Two of the three actors start the show with a simple explanation of who they are when they are wearing each item – a scarf, glasses or a hat. The third, Alfie is just Alfie – in his school uniform.
Slipped into the story of how trees share stories is a lovely introduction to how paper is made – but please don’t try Alfie’s recipe at home!
Written by Alex Zawalyski, and performed by Alex together with Morgan Ferguson, and Niamh Blane the story makes use of shadow puppetry, projection and a particularly delightful hand whittled version of Alfie.
The writing is geared to young children but clearly appealed to the adults in the audience as well judging by the smiles. I watched the children who were all under five at a guess, even the toddler barely fidgeted.
At 45 minutes this is a good length for theatre for young children. A perfect first experience of live theatre.
And a bonus – we all get to take a piece of paper impregnated with seeds home with the instruction to write our own story and then plant it!
