Northern Alberta Children's Festival at St Albert

Yay! Festival done and dusted, and what a lot of fun it was. It's been... ooooooh... eighteen years since I've been to a festival in Edmonton or thereabouts and I got to meet up with four old friends and acquaintances I haven't seen since the mid-1990s. Yeah. We're all a bit wrinklier but in surprisingly good shape, I have to say.

Festival highlights:
1. the paper fight at the end of Russian/American clown show Aga Boom. Real clowns, these guys, not the creepy I-own-a-silly-wig-and-rainbow-striped-trousers wannabes. Trained clowns. The real deal. And they were great. The paper fight at the end starts off small but engulfs the audience in showers of confetti, a dozen oversize balloons (two of them about 9 foot in diameter!), streams of toilet paper and tarpaulin-sized sheets of newsprint. Mayhem and chaos and very, very liberating...unless you have a touch of tidiness-OCD, in which case it's enough to send you into paroxysms of panic. Sadly on opening night Irena (the spiky-haired clown) went to throw a bundle of rubbish off the stage into the audience, slipped and ended up breaking five ribs by landing on the arm of a seat in the front row. Soldiered on for the rest of the show but is now out of commission for months to come. Below is a photo of the aftermath...

2. the worm-puppet doing MC Hammer's 'Can't Touch This' in The Ugly Duckling (done by Corbain Visual Arts and Dance & Lightwire Theater). Mmmm. Funnier than it ought to be.

3. the incredible set of Alice in Wonderland - vanishing doorways, sliding bookcase panels, flipping shelves revealing puppets and people... Superb fun.

4. the grand finale show. The audience was wonderfully responsive and my five-minute bit of silliness was a highlight for me. What a warm, delightful crowd...and my young volunteer Conrad made it all work.

And a couple of short videos, if I can upload them. Trying it a new way today.

Here's James Hill on the outdoor stage doing a little Rimsky-Korsakoff and making the ukulele cooler than ever...

Ahhhh. Back home now. Warm baths. Chiropractor visits. Bunny hugs.