The fruitful collaboration between Kilkenny's Barnstorm company and author Maeve Ingoldsby, in the creation of theatre for pre-teen children, has produced another winner in their new production Scaredycats.There is, as usual, a simple family theme, this time about the things that make us afraid without quite knowing why. The Phelan family - father, daughter Matty and son Billy - have lost their mother in the previous year. Billy is having nightmares and is bedwetting, Father wants to start anew in Dublin and Matty dreads the move from the small town she knows as home.
Another family, the Kellys, are moving to the town from Dublin because of dad's job transfer. Son Frankie has been bullied at school and, while affecting a macho image and contempt for culchies, he is really quaking and in need of a friend. The two families become entangled, to their mutual profit, after some false starts.
The author has shaped these materials into an entertaining and relevant piece of theatre. Emma Moohan, John Desmond, Sinead Murphy, Stephen Dunne and Alan Cooke, directed by Philip Hardy, play it out with energy and an easy-to-like quality. There is lively new music by John Ryan, and an imaginative Work Pack for use by teachers. A good one.
Plays at the Watergate, Kilkenny until February 19th, then goes on national tour. Booking at 056- 61674.