The school year has begun with a flurry and I’m reluctant to add anything extra to the schedule of my kids just yet. But there are a few things I can’t resist:
There are loads of fun kids events on at Fringe World festival which continues for three more weeks. I thought a low-key train ride into the city for Buskers Weekender could be fun – free comedy, circus and street events from Feb 2-4th in the CBD. For my other Fringe ideas head to my Fringe World Top Picks For Kids.
The Perth International Arts Festival has a lot of free events, and I’m particularly excited by Papermoon Puppet Theatre’s (Indonesia) collaboration with Polyglot Theatre (Melbourne) to produce Cerita Anak (Child’s Story). It tells the tale of a child on an adventure in a boat, using shadow imagery, puppetry and music to create in immersive interactive adventure. Sadly it is the only dedicated show for children in the festival and it is sold out.
There is also the expanded Writers Week (19-25th) which has a fabulous kids program. Kids will flex their interviewing muscles to put some of the Writers Week children’s authors in the hot seat in Curated by Kids Takeover. Author Danny Parker and illustrator/composer Matt Ottley will co-present The Sound of Picture Books with WASO musicians performing the exquisite Tree Music with illustrations from the book on a large screen. Children’s books featured during the festival include Gabrielle Wang’s The Beast of Hushing Wood, Bronwyn Houston’s Return of the Dinasaurs, Tamara Moss’ Lintang and the Pirate Queen and Josie Boyle’s Mrs White and the Red Desert. There will also be children’s activity sessions in the Paper Bird Kombi van and Artists Dhwani Shah and Ragini Siruguri from Tara Books have come all the way from India to help kids create a spectacular mural based on their amazing activities book.
If I’ve missed anything let me know. For adult arts events go to my February Gig Guide.
Noted 