Guest Review: Nivelli's War by Cahoots NI at the MAC Belfast

By Dylan O'Rawe, aged 10

Tonight my mum and I went to see Nivelli's War.  It was the story of how a little boy called Ernst was evacuated to his aunt's house in the country when his city was bombed in World War 2.  He loved his mum very much and did not want to leave her, but it was too dangerous for him to stay and so he had to go so he would be safe.

When the war was over, a nice man helped him to find his way home even though when they first met each other they hated each other.  He showed Ernst magic tricks and then Ernst learned to do them himself.  When he grew up he became the great Nivelli, a magician.

I thought the story was really nice and I thought it was happy and sad.  I loved the magic tricks and the smoke which made it really spooky sometimes.  The music was cool and sometimes made me feel like something bad was going to happen.

My mum knows some people in the show and I knew Michael and Kerri because I've met them before with my mum.  All the actors were great but I thought that the great Nivelli was the best because he was really old and remembering back a long time and that was hard to act.  I loved Michael's smoke too and wanted there to be more, but I'm glad I wasn't sitting at the front.

I think all children should go to see the show because stories about the war are important for children to know about and history is really interesting.  If you like magic then you will love the trick at the end but my mum said not to write it here or I would spoil the surprise!

Dylan

Nivelli's War is at the MAC Belfast until Tuesday 11 March. Click here for tickets 

For tour dates check the Cahoots NI website by clicking here