by Ed Fortune
With so many shows on late at night during the Edinburgh Fringe, it’s easy to forget that the world’s largest arts festival is for everyone. Tales From The Haunted Bookshop is a family show aimed mostly at kids that starts in the morning and is well worth getting the children out of bed and into the theatre for.
Our premise is delightful; somewhere lurking around the world is a Haunted Bookshop filled with spooky stories that have to be told no matter what. Our hosts are the witch-like Miss Cordelia Hemlock and her charming minion, Ransome Squelch. If these sound like characters from a British children’s fantasy novel aimed at the under-12s, well, we’re pretty sure that’s on purpose.
After a little bit of spooky performance comedy, some very big acting choices and a small amount of magic, we get onto the stories, and they can be best described as that very British sort of children’s tale; something gruesome happening to a horrible child, with spooky consequences and some sort of nod to teaching some sort of lesson. Even if that lesson is ‘don’t eat magical food’ or ‘avoid obvious traps’.
The props are marvellous. The bookshop itself is one rickety set of shelves filled with strange books, a raven (called Quoth) and a ventriloquist’s dummy that likes to fall off the shelf at inappropriate times. Lighting, puppet work and sound design combine to create a Halloween-style atmosphere and fill the tiny venue with a comforting Addams Family-style presence.
The actors are solid, skilful and clearly living their best lives. They’re having fun being spooky in a silly way, and that sort of joy translates into a great performance.
This show is mostly for children around 7 to 12, slightly older kids being in that awkward space between ‘too young for horror’ and ‘too old for burping and farting humour’. Adults will enjoy this for what it is; story-time for a spooky twist, child-like fairy tales with gruesome outcomes and just enough peril to be fun.
Spooky Silliness for all the family.
Learn more about Coppice Theatre here.
Find tickets for the show here
