Greg Sinclair and Scottish Theatre Producers are bringing Tongue Twister, a theatre show for children 6 – 12 years and their families to Eastwood Park Theatre, Giffnock; Aberdeen’s Light the Blue Festival; school performances in Paisley and Greenock; and Edinburgh as part of the Edinburgh International Children’s Festival’s on tour.
Commissioned by Imaginate and produced by Scottish Theatre Producers, in partnership with Aberdeen Performing Arts, Tongue Twister is one man’s attempt to say tongue twisters in as many different languages as possible. Whilst also trying to dance. And make music. And do all the costume changes without leaving the stage.
Created and performed by award-winning performance artist and musician Greg Sinclair, this show is a delight for eyes and ears, featuring dazzling costumes and innovative visual design. Humorous, colourful, rhythmical and odd, Tongue Twister is a celebration of the musical beauty of language and the multicultural nature of Scotland.
Greg Sinclair is a performance artist, composer and cellist from Edinburgh. His work is often made in collaboration with other artists, children, young people, community members, and audiences.
Tongue Twister is an extension of Greg’s previous work Seashells, a film developed in response to Brexit that received huge acclaim from audiences. All of the tongue twisters in the show have come from people Greg has met and the show’s themes involving wordplay, tongue twisters and secret languages, are likely to resonate with Scotland’s multicultural audience.
On creating Tongue Twister, artist Greg Sinclair said: “There’s a few things that have inspired Tongue Twister. I love how tongue twisters are a mix of musicality, silliness, and wordplay. And I like how you’re not really supposed to be good at them, it’s more fun if you fail and I think that’s a positive message in this age of everyone striving to be perfect all the time. It’s even harder for me in the show because all the tongue twisters are in different languages! I’ve always loved languages, in fact I almost applied to study German and Scandinavian languages at university before deciding to study music, but I can only speak English and rusty German! In 2016, on the day of the Brexit referendum result, I was on holiday in Croatia surrounded by Europeans who were all hopping easily between multiple languages. I felt such a strong sense of shame at the result so I decided to channel my feelings into my art. That led to my short film Seashells, which in turn has led to Tongue Twister. The show is a way for me to make connections throughout my communities and internationally by showing that I’m listening””
Noel Jordan, Children’s Festival Director added: “When Greg Sinclair first shared his short film ‘Seashells’ with me I genuinely laughed out loud. Together with costume designer, Alison Brown, Greg had crafted eight highly visual characters delivering tongue twisters in eight entirely different languages. The film was screened on a loop at our 2023 and 2024 Family Day at the National Museum of Scotland and family audiences agreed. The work was joyous. How you then transform this into a live production with multiple costume changes and multiple languages is the task ahead of Greg and his collaborators and I for one, can’t wait to see what promises to be hysterical results.”
Tongue Twister by Greg Sinclair has been commissioned by Imaginate who run the Edinburgh International Children’s Festival, and produced by Scottish Theatre Producers, in partnership with Aberdeen Performing Arts, in association with Kloden Teater and supported by North Edinburgh Arts. It is further supported by the Scottish Government’s Festivals Expo Fund, development funded by Creative Scotland.
