Charming and cheerful, these scarecrows will make every child smile: PATRICK MARMION reviews The Scarecrows' Wedding

By Patrick Marmion for the Daily Mail

Published: 18:53 EST, 13 August 2015 | Updated: 19:14 EST, 13 August 2015

The Scarecrows' Wedding (underbelly, George Square)

Verdict: Charming 

Rating:

The illustrated books of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler continue to provide some of the best entertainment for young children in Edinburgh.

Previous shows at Underbelly have included a delightful outing for Stick Man, but this year’s is just as charming — with a new story about scarecrows Betty O’Barley and Harry O’Hay, who want to get married under the farmer’s nose.

With cameos for a bloated toad on a space hopper and a super-slow snail, the inventive show teems with life on a sunny Astroturf hill.

The Scarecrows' Wedding is about Betty O’Barley and Harry O’Hay (pictured) who want to get married under the farmer’s nose

The Scarecrows' Wedding is about Betty O’Barley and Harry O’Hay (pictured) who want to get married under the farmer’s nose

With cameos for a bloated toad on a space hopper and a super-slow snail, the inventive show teems with life on a sunny Astroturf hill

With cameos for a bloated toad on a space hopper and a super-slow snail, the inventive show teems with life on a sunny Astroturf hill

Sound levels are pitched for the very hard of hearing and the pre-recorded music is at odds with the show’s homemade ways. That said, it’s an undoubted charmer and hugely popular with wriggling kids. 

Rosie's Magic Horse (Pleasance Above)

Verdict: Sweet

Rating:

Less sophisticated but no less agreeable is Russell Hoban’s children’s book Rosie’s Magic Horse with illustrations by Quentin Blake, adapted for the stage on a very tight budget. It’s the story of little Rosie who imagines a stick horse that takes her on a world trip.

She gathers treasure to save her parents, who are impoverished by Dad’s vocation as a writer of children’s fiction.

Props are rickety and the blinds used for shadow puppetry don’t always work as well as the tea chest horse attached to Rosie’s shoulders with a pair of braces.

The plucky cast are never less than game, though, and there’s cheerful singing including a hymn to hot chocolate and a Justin Timberlake routine that thrills the tiny tots.

Not a fringe front-runner, but perfectly sweet. 

The play is an undoubted charmer and will be hugely popular with wriggling kids

The play is an undoubted charmer and will be hugely popular with wriggling kids

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