Mixed Up by Katy Wilson

The Scotsman 4 November 2021

A 15th anniversary is a significant milestone for any theatre company. But for Edinburgh’s Starcatchers, it is doubly so. This is the company that caters for the youngest audiences – anything from babies up to five years old. That means the very first children it played to at the start of 2007, with a show called Little Light, will now be coming of age. For the tots who saw Andy Manley and Venessa Rigg perform this sensory adventure about a glowing ball of light, Starcatchers set them up for life.

Chief executive Rhona Matheson smiles as she recalls the company’s baby steps. At the time of Little Light, Starcatchers was a two-year pilot project based at North Edinburgh Arts Centre. Nobody knew whether an arts organisation dedicated to toddlers had a chance of succeeding. [READ MORE]

By Mark Fisher

MARK FISHER is a freelance theatre critic and feature writer based in Edinburgh and has written about theatre in Scotland since the late-1980s. He is a theatre critic for The Guardian, a former editor of The List magazine and a frequent contributor to the Scotsman and other publications. He is the co-editor of the play anthology Made in Scotland (1995), and the author of The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide (2012) and How to Write About Theatre (2015) – all Bloomsbury Methuen Drama. He is also the editor of The XTC Bumper Book of Fun for Boys and Girls and What Do You Call That Noise? An XTC Discovery Book (both Mark Fisher Ltd).