THEATRE REVIEW: Mr Popper’s Penguins

Mr Popper is stuck in a rut. He spends his days as a painter and decorator, dreaming of travelling to far-flung places and being an adventurer. He particularly loves the Antarctic and reads up on everything about it. Then a mysterious packing crate arrives from the South Pole containing a penguin, and it turns his world upside down.

He calls the bird Captain Cook and Mr and Mrs Popper now must deal with having a new pet in the house. It jumps on furniture, chews things it shouldn’t, squawks demands, and makes a general pest of itself while being totally lovable.

But the bird falls ill from lack of contact with other penguins and the Poppers’ must then get a second one from a zoo. It’s a girl, and they mate. Now the Poppers’ have many new chicks. Their lives and home are thrown into further chaos. If they thought life was difficult with two birds, try ten.

The cast, in this 60 minute version of Richard and Florence Atwater’s award-winning book, are outstanding. The penguins are animated by brilliant puppeteers, and their antics, and squawks, are a good laugh. The songs are great and well performed. There’s even a penguin puppet stage show within a show where one brave bird gets shot from a cannon (this is hilarious).

This is genuinely entertaining theatre for children, elevated by vivid performances and an appealing Mr Popper. The staging is simple but imaginative, and the show is warm, absurd, yet easy to relate to.

Based on the novel by Richard and Florence Atwater, adapted for the stage by Pins and Needles Production

Producer: Kenny Wax Family Entertainment
Director: Emma Earle
Songs by: Music by Luke Bateman and lyrics by Richy Hughes.
Lighting: Ric Mountjoy
Sound: Jason Barnes
Design: Zoe Squire
Cast list: Mr Popper – Richard Holt, Mrs Popper – Monica Nash, Captain Cook / Mr Greenbaum – Christopher Finn, Greta / Admiral Drake – Susanna Jennings, Oliver Byng – Understudy / ASM