Sarah Jones and her family enjoy a ‘breathtakingly beautiful’ show about families and differences
We walked into this show not quite sure what to expect. From the start this was clearly going to be something quite different to anything we’d seen at the Wyvern Theatre before, with none of the usual panto style booing, calls of ‘he’s behind you’ or throwing custard pies. However, we needn’t have worried – this hour long show completely won our little family of four over.
Penguins is a show all about families and differences. It tells a true story reported in the New York Times of two Chinstrap penguins in Central Park Zoo – Roy and Silo – who became a couple. They saw other penguins sitting around their nests looking after their eggs, but Roy and Silo had no egg. They found a rock and sat on it, but of course nothing happened. However, the zookeeper, who had been watching them, gave them a real egg to nurture. It hatched into a baby penguin, who they taught to swim, catch fish and played mischievous games of hide and seek.
The whole show was breathtakingly beautiful, all taking place against a simple set of cold stacked illuminated ice block nests around which the penguins hopped and splashed off into the water. The choreography was amazing, and told the story without the need for any words, and in such a way that adults and children could both understand.
My seven year old wanted to watch it again immediately. I think she could have quite easily have sat through another few hours watching the dance and the story develop! I am not totally sure my 5 year old fully understood the concept of the story, but he really enjoyed the stage and the dancing, giving it a big thumbs up at the end. Perhaps I should have given him more back ground of what the story was about so he could follow the on stage production better.
The show gives lots of scope for discussion too, explaining to children how families are all different, and the importance of being true to ourselves. Or in our case, it’s a great excuse to see how well we could all walk like a penguin…..
A brilliant show, I would totally recommend the performance to all.
For more details of shows at the Wyvern Theatre, click here