The Scotsman 28 November 2023

“This is a yes space,” says performer Kerry Cleland. We are surveying the scene in the Baby Studio in Wester Hailes, a place where there is no wrong way to behave. Anything goes in this new base for Starcatchers, the arts and early-years organisation.

You will find it in a previously empty unit in the Westside Plaza shopping centre. It is near the foot of the escalators, along from the post office and opposite the opticians. The location sends an important message: everyone is welcome.

Give the Baby Studio a casual look and you might think you were in any play centre. There are cushioned building blocks, toddlers in every direction and parents chatting in the corner. Look more closely, however, and you see something else is going on. [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).