There was a movie version, starring Jim Carrey, of this tale about a man who is sent a penguin as a gift with life-changing results. However, the film veered significantly from Richard and Florence Atwater’s 30s children’s story about a house painter who lives in Stillwater, where nothing ever happens, but who dreams of adventure and the Antarctic.
The company Pins and Needles, responsible for admired adaptations of two Raymond Briggs stories, The Bear and Father Christmas, return to the original story. They mine its retro charm to good effect in a pleasing but lightweight mini-musical that explores what happens when the penguin, called Captain Cook, gets a mate. Soon the Popper household is echoing to the patter of tiny penguin feet. Like human children, they bring both sleepless nights and joy, and also put a huge strain on the family budget.
Mr Popper (Russell Morton) comes up with a solution: if there are performing seals, why not performing penguins? This may not sit particularly happily with 21st-century sensibilities about performing animals, but all ends well when both Mr Popper’s need for adventure and the penguins’ best interests align. The company has terrific fun with the puppet penguins, who are almost as expressively comical as real birds.
There is a jokey pleasure, too, in Captain Cook’s initial arrival in the Popper household when he gobbles the goldfish and takes up residence in the refrigerator. The gradual thawing of Roxanne Palmer’s buttoned-up Mrs Popper is neatly done, as she and her husband gradually learn to stop existing and to start living.
The songs aren’t show-stoppers but they have an endearing quality and the whole thing zips along nicely on Zoe Squire’s basic but ingenious design. There are more theatrically inventive children’s shows available, but this has family appeal, and should send everyone out with grins on their faces.
• At the Lowry, Salford, until 10 January. Box office: 0843 208 6000.
