Ailsa Dixon is doing a few different musical storytelling things across the Fringe, and this charming one-off performance was aimed at the very junior end of the spectrum.  A mixture of short folk tales from her native north-east of Scotland were peppered with interactive bits, smatterings of fiddle, cello and harp and sing-along songs, notably including one about an improbably large and diverse range of uses for the noble herring. Whilst a full hour was possibly a little long for attention spans and indeed, on this evidence, for toddling audience members not to wander, it’s a pleasing, entertaining and – worn lightly – talented enough performance to suggest that her other shows (both at the Scottish Storytelling Centre) are worth seeking out.

St Cecilia’s Hall, 5 Aug.
tw rating 3/5 | Bruce Blacklaw