Elbow Beach Hotel -- January 15 and 16.

Kidfest 1994, the first season of children's theatre ever staged in Bermuda, got off to a spectacular start this weekend with its opening performance of a Canadian puppet and black light play entitled Fish Whiskers.

Paula Maguire is both the brains behind and producer of this three-month festival. As a successful former professional dancer herself who, for ten years was part of Canada's regularly televised Elephant Show, Mrs. Maguire obviously recognises quality when she sees it. Fortunately for Bermuda, she was able to acquire this tiny but multi-talented Canadian theatre group for her opening show, staged in the Peacock Room at the Princess Hotel in four lunch-time performances.

The small stage was magically transformed into a seemingly vast black ocean `aquarium'. Iridescent creatures of the deep flitted with balletic grace through undulating fronds of green as the moral tale unfolded. Yes, this was a play with a clear message -- but so charmingly and wittingly told that, for once, political correctness failed to dilute its artistic validity.

Briefly, this marine melodrama concerns a fish called Angel who is teased about her long, "different'' whiskers. She finds solace with a newcomer to her neck of the waters, a strange and brilliantly coloured fish called Sockeye who, having lost his habitat to pollution, is encountering hostility when he attempts to relocate in neighbouring undersea communities.

The script for Fish Whiskers positively sparkles with wit. ("Who turned out the lights?'' shouts the man-ray when the octopus squirts ink in his eyes). It achieves a marvellous balancing-act of simple but always literary language which never makes the mistake of `talking down' to its young audience. These hand and string puppets take on comical and heart-warming lives of their own under the expert manipulation of the three-member cast. There is pantomime-style audience participation, and the music has a nautical flavour: the song that eventually brings social harmony is the tune of Flow Gently, Sweet Afton.

Originally commissioned by the Multi-Cultural Council of Alberta, this is a children's play which succeeds on every level, for it is also visually stunning -- and the packed audience obviously thought so, for there was a chorus of `oohs' as the brightly gleaming fish `swam' out of nether darkness.

Having evoked so completely an aura of theatrical magic, it seemed self-defeating to bring the kids jolting back to earth immediately after the show's end by demonstrating precisely how that magic is achieved. Out came the fish, reduced now to lumps of lifeless material and, without the phosphorescent paint, of decidedly drab hue. The overall effect, while possibly educational, brought an anti-climactic end to an outstanding production.

The Maritime Marionettes re-tell the story of Rumpelstiltskin on February 5 and 6, comedian/acrobat Tom Kubinek appears on March 5 and 6, and Kirk and Magoo take a musical trip through the world of country folk to rock and opera.

Telephone 236-1085 for reservations.

PATRICIA CALNAN A FISHY TALE -- Sockeye and Angel, two of the puppets featured in Fish Whiskers, the first presentation in Galla Productions' Kidfest '94, a special three-month festival of theatrical entertainment geared specifically toward children.

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