Monski Mouse's Baby Disco Dance Hall

★★★
kids review (edinburgh) | Read in About 2 minutes
Published 16 Aug 2017

DJ Monski Mouse has hit on a great idea here: a morning micro-rave to wake up tired parents and tire out their small children.

Accompanied by my 11-month old daughter, I danced my way through a playlist which switched from '80s pop classics to singalong kids tunes. Assisted by two enthusiastic roving helpers, Monski Mouse DJs from the stage, demonstrating dance moves, chastising lazy parents, and generally keeping the proceedings moving at an enjoyably fast pace. It’s hard to tell whether it’s the little ones or their parents who enjoy it more; I had a lot of fun whirling my baby around to ‘(I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life’ ("Nobody puts baby in the corner’ never more appropriately quoted than by Monski Mouse here).

The kids love the flashing lights and fun, even if my daughter was most interested in trying to crawl behind the bar (that’s my girl), and the lovely Palais du Variété is sympathetically decked with cushions and rugs around the perimeter, giving ample opportunity for a pit stop.

It’s a simple idea, well executed, but as a fringe show it lacks ambition. Stuck behind a desk playing tunes from an iPad on stage, Monski Mouse could surely expand this concept to be a little more theatrical or interactive. Ticket price is an admirably low (for the Fringe) £7.50, but it feels like this format could work better as a kind of afternoon drop-in; being able to pop out for a coffee and feed the little one, then returning an hour later for a boogie would liberate this concept from the strictures of the Fringe format. After all, what was the last rave you went to that lasted a strict 50 minutes?