When Noel Jordan says, “this is probably the best children’s theatre festival in the world” you might think he’s only doing what an artistic director is supposed to do – talking up his own event. Jordan, however, isn’t expressing a purely partisan opinion. He’s channeling the global feedback that tags the Edinburgh International Children's Festival (EICF) as the one to watch – and, better still, the one to be in.

“Because of our standing all across the English speaking world, we’re in an enviable position,” he says. “Theatre companies, artists, they really want to come here. It marks their work out as being of a really high standard - but, more importantly, it’s instant access to a wider platform. An invitation here, to our Festival, can mean your production being seen by 300 delegates who’ve come from 23 countries – that was what happened in 2017 – and that’s when the invitations to travel the world really open up.”

He can readily illustrate that point with one of the Festival’s own 2017 commissions: Night Light. After touring extensively in the UK, the production has gone on to various stages in Europe. In fact Night Light is also a good example of the constructive networking and collaborations that the EICF’s parent company, Imaginate, pursues and promotes. It co-produced the work with Scottish company Red Bridge Arts while solo performer Andy Manley benefitted from Imaginate connections by hooking up with the Aarhus-based Teater Refleksion, and their designer Mariann Aagaard, to fashion the whimsical, magical look and sound of a piece about a lively little girl who can’t go to sleep.

This year, the Imaginate commission draws together creative energies across continents in the premiere of Baba Yaga. “Would you believe it?” says a clearly delighted Jordan. “It’s a Shona Reppe performance without any puppets! It’s a whole new direction for Shona. It’s her, drawing on her own talents for characterisation - and we’ve been able to help make it happen.” He sketches out the background. Two years ago, one of the wackiest hits at EICF was Fluff by Cre8ion (Australia). On-stage, the regally loopoid Christine Johnston presided over a realm of lost toys, her exuberant behaviour delighting young audiences – and striking mischievous chords with Reppe. “It’s almost a ‘blind date’ scenario,” laughs Jordan. “They just came together as kindred spirits, shared ideas, and the result is this new version of an old Russian folktale about a scary witch. It’s already been out on tour in Scotland, it’s with us for the entire run of the Festival – who knows where it go after that.”

Behind Baba Yaga is anotheer tale: one of long-distance negotiations that saw Australia’s Windmill Theatre Company come on board as co-producers. In part, their involvement was down to an existing familiarity with Reppe’s own quirky and inventive work. But Jordan feels that there’s also a bigger picture, one that looks pro-actively at the future of children’s theatre. “It feels really great,” he says, “to have people, like Windmill, putting their money down, contributing to artists from outside Australia, saying ‘OK - we believe in you. We trust your vision, off you go and make the work..’ I think that’s big and bold, and it’s important - especially in these challenging times with funders - to the impact of Scottish children’s theatre in the long run, not just here but internationally.”

If Jordan has a zest for getting home-grown work out, onto globe-trotting tours, he’s equally keen to bring in work from other cultures that he believes reflects the world that young audiences are growing up in. He resists imposing any thematic overview on his programming but instead says “What’s emerging are, I think, important stories of migration, climate change, gender, bereavement, friendship, cultural difference – in short, the stuff of life and death. And some of the work is dark - scary, even - but I think what really good story-telling can do is offer pathways through those dark and scary situations. Hopefully, you won’t have to experience them for yourselves in real life - but seeing how other people cope can be, I think, really reassuring and inspirational.”

NIE's We Come From Far, Far Away – for ages 10-15 – is very much in that vein.It tells the real story of two 15-year-old boys who travel alone from Aleppo across the sea and mainland Europe to Norway. “It's told in a very matter of fact way, but the reality of what they go through is unimaginable” says Jordan. “And yet, you know, it’s also a really funny play. So is A Feast of Bones, from Theatre Lovett (Ireland). It’s based on the Henny Penny fable, it’s set during the First World War – which might sound a bit grim, but again, you’ve got humour, music and great imagination engaging young audiences (aged 9-15) in thought-provoking topics ... and all within the safe environment of the theatre. You can walk out, afterwards, into your own, familiar world. But maybe with a bit of a change in how you look at, and think about, where you are and even who you are.”

The EICF’s first-ever South African production, Mbuzeni - aimed at a 12+ and adult audiences – is another of Jordan’s carefully selected ventures into darker territories. It tells of four teenaged orphan girls who are fixated on funerals and burial rites. “But actually, I’d say it was about friendship,” says Jordan. “How their shared ‘sisterhood’ really supports and sustains them.” He’s negotiated with the company, Koleka Putuma, to perform mostly in English, but there’s still an element of Xhosa, the South African clicking language because Jordan wants audiences “to hear the authenticity of the culture that it's from.”

Elsewhere, it’s the look and feel of a piece, rather that any text, that prevails in the works that cater for tots and younger children. Companies from across Europe will be installing visually-striking, even touchy-feely, environments for shows that embrace interactivity as a portal into the performing arts. And something of that ‘joining in’ attitude will be in action across the weekend when EICF fills the National Museum of Scotland with two days of free pop-performances and activities throughout the building.

And if you come away thinking ‘wow! that was the best” is simply because Jordan and his team believe that’s what children deserve: the very best, on their doorstep in Edinburgh.

programme details at www.imaginate.org.uk