Rumplestiltskin at the Fairytale Laundry

Fringe Review: Ailie Cohen spins a golden tale in a rain-soaked tent in this splendid piece of children's theatre

Running through a downpour with my daughter, cold and wet, and arriving in a tent that's only barely keeping the rain out isn't the ideal way to begin watching a performance.

Add to that the fact that a deluge soaked the electrical equipment causing a ten-minute delay and irreparable damage to the sound system and you're about ready just to head inside somewhere.

Considering all these difficulties, Scottish performer Ailie Cohen pulled off an amazing feat, providing an hour of splendid children’s theatre.

Engaging and charming, Cohen quickly won the audience over, to the point where we were helping her make music, singing along as she lightly and quirkily took us through the Rumplestiltskin fairy tale.

To tell the story Cohen uses the simple but inventive device of starting and ending the tale at the laundry where the fairy tale's characters' clothes are washed.

Using well-dressed and comical sock puppets, Cohen proves to be a wonderful storyteller, taking the time to engage with us individually, children and adults alike. At the beginning I thought that this would really be a show for pre-schoolers, but my eight-year-old daughter loved it and was never bored.

A bigger audience would help a lot – there were far too few of us in the rain-soaked tent to enjoy the show to its fullest – so grab your kids or your friend's kids and get down to the tent.

Rumplestiltskin at the Fairytale Laundry is playing every day at 4:30pm at the Divadelní Stan (Theatre Tent) at the Nosticovo divadlo theatre until Sunday, June 6th. There's also an extra show on Saturday, June 5th at 2:15pm.

For more information see the Fringe Festival Praha website.

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