RHUM

As author Maurice Sendak once said, “A child is a complicated creature who can drive you crazy”, and it was this lack of mollycoddling obsequiousness toward childhood that allowed him to write such timeless children's fiction. The same lack of patronisation can be seen in the works of Roald Dahl, the beginning of Disney's Bambi, the first 20 minutes of Pixar's Up, and in comedy festival show The List Operators For Kids.

The show is in playing in the Bosco Theatre in City Square, a carnival themed venue much like a poor man's Spiegel Tent, and this is the perfect location for the show which draws heavily on classic pantomime and variety show traditions. There are jokes of the “he's behind you” variety, fart gags, physical humour, and a gross out sketch featuring green slime. But the high point has to be the tea towel projectile fight which whips the audience into a state of pandemonium The Wiggles will never see. They aren't afraid to put their show in the kids' hands and play, and it pays off.

The show is for kids and as such it is a kid's review that means the most here. As the show closed, before The Operators had even got off stage, the three kids next to me jumped on their mum and screamed in rapt excitement “Oh my god mummy that was AWESOME!”. Can't argue with that.

Chuckle Factor (for kids): 8.5/10

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