Review: In Time – Edinburgh International Children’s Festival 2026

There is a profound beauty in doing the theatrical basics superbly well. In Time, a co-production from Teater Refleksion, Andy Manley, and De Røde Heste, currently playing at Traverse 2 for the Edinburgh International Children’s Festival, strips away flashy artifice to deliver something exceptional.

Aimed at ages three to seven, it is an unhurried, wonderfully absurdist allegory of parenthood that earns every laugh, gasp, and moment of quiet delight. I loved every minute of it. Reader, my seventh birthday is now a deeply historical event.

The Obelisk and the Custodians

The piece opens with a gentle mystery. Two middle-aged men approach a strange wooden obelisk, methodically following directions until they find themselves setting up their working and personal lives in its shadow. We never learn exactly why they are there or what drew them to this spot, and it simply doesn’t matter—their shared purpose is enough.

There is a profound beauty in doing the theatrical basics superbly well. In Time, a co-production from Teater Refleksion, Andy Manley, and De Røde Heste currently playing at Traverse 2 for the Edinburgh International Children’s Festival, strips away flashy artifice to deliver something exceptional.

Clad in janitorial coats bearing the letters ‘A’ and ‘O’, these two custodians establish distinctly engaging personalities with barely a word of dialogue. Instead, character is built through meticulously timed physical comedy. Whether it’s a perfectly calibrated sneeze or one custodian impersonating a seedling-endangering sheep just to give his partner a sleepless night, the physical storytelling is universally legible and endlessly charming.

Leaf Days and Magical Realism

Each man arrives with a small box containing daily necessities—a toothbrush, simple tools—which are dutifully fed to the obelisk before life settles into a routine. That routine is entirely upended by the arrival of a tiny seed.

**In Time by Teater Refleksion, Andy Manley and De Røde Heste. © Christoffer Brekne**

From this moment, the narrative literally blossoms. The seedling’s milestones are marked as ‘leaf days,’ each new arrival greeted with a commemorative photograph, a touch of highly practiced magical sleight of hand, and eventually, joyful bunting. The show establishes a lovely, gentle rhythm that never tips into repetition. Every new leaf brings a fresh adventure and a new opportunity for the young audience to erupt into giggles, eliciting a steady stream of “awws” and “wows” without ever relying on heavy theatrical flash.

A Poignant Celebration of Growth

The true genius of In Time lies in its dual appeal. While the younger viewers are entirely captivated by the tactile magic and the struggle to protect the plant from a techno-soundtrack-loving world, accompanying adults will register a warmly melancholic undertone.

As the seedling climbs and expands into a mighty vine, A and O visibly age. It is a quiet, poignant acknowledgement of the passage of time and the inevitable letting go required by parenthood. Yet, ultimately, the production is never sad. It is a celebratory exploration of growth—not merely of the young life being nurtured, but of the parents being shaped by the act of nurturing itself. By focusing entirely on giving us interesting characters to invest in and a story that organically grows with the telling, In Time proves to be an absolute triumph of children’s theatre.

Featured Image: In Time by Teater Refleksion, Andy Manley and De Røde Heste. © Christoffer Brekne0