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Festival visit: Pop-Up! The Amazing Adventures of Moo Dong

Confession time: I didn’t actually make it to this show. It is showing in the morning, and that’s when my train is on its way up from London. But based on the reviews linked below, it’s well worth a visit.

The show aims to bring great art works to life for a young audience, and like many Fringe events, the company did some open-air PR in the High Street, chosing some Picasso as their shop-front:

Theatre Bom bring Picasso to life in Edinburgh Old Town
Theatre Bom bring Picasso to life in Edinburgh Old Town

The story for the production involves Moo-dong, a young girl in a painting who comes to life and explores other paintings in the gallery. One of the works she comes across is Salvador Dali’s Sleep, which is brought to life with a giant puppet version of the stretched head:

Theatre Bom's take on Dali's Sleep
Theatre Bom's take on Dali's Sleep

Audience members might have been less familiar with Kim Hong-do’s genre paintings, but it gave the company its best opportunity to introduce some traditional Korean music and theatre forms:

Kim Hong-do's characters come to life
Kim Hong-do's characters come to life

Some of the younger children in the audience were a little scared by the traditional talchum masked dancer though. A favourite part of the show is where Moo-dong manages to break Arcimboldo’s ‘Summer’ and has to put it back together again with help from members of the audience (what Korean show doesn’t involve members from the audience?). Other favourite scenes:

Lily (8) liked it when the lady with the big bustle came out of Georges Seurat’s painting ,”A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte”, leaving a empty space behind in the painting. Jessica (10) liked it when Moo-Dong realised that she must have left a similar gap behind in her painting, so she searched for her painting and returned to it. (Primary Times)

The lady from the Island of La Grande Jatte
The lady from the Island of La Grande Jatte

In conclusion:

A magnificent and stimulating way to introduce well-known pieces of art to children. Each subject is explored in a memorable and colourful way that children can remember, and the overall story simple enough so as not to overshadow the stories that develop for each painting. (Fringe Review)

and

…plenty of colour and movement here to keep younger kids and daft grown-ups entertained (The List)

Pop-Up! The Amazing Adventures of Moo Dong runs until 29 August. Book here.

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