Manipulate
Auntie Empire
★★★☆☆ Splenetic
Auntie Empire, at Summerhall for two nights as part of Manipulate, is a thoroughly dark piece of satirical clowning. It is deliberately messy and unfocused, but perhaps that lack of focus is ultimately a disadvantage.
The Raft of the Crab
★★★★☆ Inventively emotional
The Raft of the Crab, at the Studio Theatre for one performance only as part of Manipulate, is an engaging, human and wonderfully performed piece from Scotland-based Ninon Noiret, detailing her diagnosis of cancer, her treatment and recovery.
Size Matters
Paragraph
★★★☆☆ Whimsical
Size Matters, at the Traverse as part of the Manipulate festival, is an inventive if uneven production.
Manipulate live
A dozen live works for Manipulate Festival 2026
This year’s Manipulate Festival contains 12 live pieces of puppetry and visual performance, half of them from Scottish and Scotland-based creatives, over its run from Wednesday 4 to Tuesday 10 February 2026.
When Prophecy Fails
★★★★★ Purposeful
Adapted from a 1954 American study into the social psychology and cognitive dissonance of a UFO religion called the Seekers, When Prophecy Fails is an exploration of the community and humanity behind what could easily be perceived as cult.
Manipulate: These Things Aren’t Mine
★★★★☆ Intense
Publicly screened only once before, at Bristol Circus City, Manipulate Festival marks the Scottish debut of These Things Aren’t Mine.
Ragnarok
★★★★☆ Dark
Tortoise in a Nutshell has brought all its considerable prowess in live animation to the stage with Ragnarok, a dark and foreboding take on an ancient Norse myth, foretelling the end of our world.
Plinth
★★★☆☆ Horrors of war
Writer and performer, Al Seed’s latest creation, Plinth, produced by his own company and Vanishing Point and touring to Manipulate, opens with Seed standing on a plinth giving a live rendition of a series of poses found in military statues.
The House
★★★★☆ Darkly comical
Danish director and puppeteer Sofie Krog introduces The House by reminding the audience that “walls have ears” and that the darkly comical tale will be told by the walls of the Warehouse Family Funeral Home.
Manipulate live listings
Visual Theatre Fest runs Feb 1 – 11.
The Manipulate Festival, home of animation, puppetry and visual theatre in Scotland, opens this Thursday, 1 February 2024, running for eleven days, with live performances in three Edinburgh venues.
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