Festival REVIEW: Family Day - Imaginate - ★★★★

Mix Up Theatre (Stewart)
2 days ago
2 min read

The Festival will once again open with a FREE day of pop-up performances and artist interventions for families in the beautiful settings of the National Museum of Scotland – an ideal way to get creative and experience exciting new ideas from local artists. Just come along and enjoy a visit to the museum while soaking up the Festival atmosphere!

Where?

National Museum of Scotland - Part of Imaginate - Edinburgh International Children's Festival

Olivia (Age 13) - ★★★1/2

"I would rate the museum 3.5/5 stars as I feel the target audience was more towards the younger kids but that's understandable seeing as it was a 'family day', we watched a proformance with people on swings which some people enjoyed but I found it a little underwhelming.

For the rest of the time we wandered around the normal exhibits, I found the technology area very informative and I leaned alot about animals in that room too.

We had a good time and I think it's great for kids of all ages as there's something for everyone."

Stewart - ★★★★★

"Another brilliant day of pop-up performances organised by Imaginate festival. We've seen both the acts we saw before (at Imaginate) but worth soaking up again.

Particularly interesting seeing Family Portrait by Barrowland Ballet, because this time around I am a parent myself and it had another level of resonance for me - loved it - and got a little teary :)

Here's the review from 2022 which pretty much stays the same...

"This is such a lovely piece of work by Gilmore and her three children. Very intimate, very sweet, often very funny and just gorgeous to be immersed into. I love how each child's personality is given a platform, in particular the scene where the older boy talks about how he is scared of more things than his younger siblings and lists his fear whilst on another screen he lies cuddling his Mum. The scene where the Mum dances frantically in the bath whilst the children play around her is quite a profound moment and the crawling over Mum and carrying of her children all holds such resonance. A really lovely piece that shows the fun and weight of being a family. I think what would have been a nice extra element for the festival would have been a somewhat hands-on activity that the audience could have done after the piece. Still wonderful stuff and very memorable."