The Great Indoors
THERE can’t be many places where your kids can make cup cakes with a star of a Madchester band; marvel at a hula-hooping, jump-suited Elvis; try to figure out why two cartoon donkeys are boxing while a woman sings in French in the background; and solve the riddle of why inventor Charles Babbage can’t quite create the first computer.
But it was all, and more, at a weekend of children’s performances and experiences in Manchester Town Hall as part of the wonderful Manchester International Festival showcase, The Great Indoors.
All 20 or so events were fun with a slight arty edge that kept the adults involved and children could also get “hands-on”, creating sounds from freakish machines, building recycled statues and icing cakes at Mrs Boon’s Cup Cake Workshop.
The cake decorating was so over-subscribed it turned into a ticket-only event and my two children were teamed with Mrs Boon’s musician and DJ husband Clint – formerly of the Inspiral Carpets – to create a cake iced with the Factory records logo (hopefully there won’t be a copyright wrangle).
There was comedy, acrobatics, French circus act Crida Company’s Follow Me – bizarre performance art that was best to take on its slapstick face value – and Craig Reid, expertly juggling hula-hoops to the sound of Elvis’s classics, and who you’ll probably see on Britain’s Got Talent sometime soon.
But the highlight for us was Walk The Plank’s interactive play, The Difference Engine, about the inventor of the earliest computer, ingeniously woven around the town hall’s atmospheric courtyards with brilliant props and costumes. It was full of jokes, songs and riddles for children to enjoy – with a pack of cards for the kids at the end.
The catering may have been slightly haphazard but the whole event was a joy – and best of all, it was free!
Reviewed: Tue, 14 July, 2009
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