Writer: Oliver Jeffers adapted by Will Brenton
Director: Will Brenton
Considering the Christmas period is regarded as a time for very young children there is a marked lack of live entertainment for such audiences in the Manchester area this year. Writer/ director Will Brenton sets out to rectify this situation with a charming adaptation of Oliver Jeffers’s Lost and Found staged at the newly opened Aviva Studios.
In a seaport The Boy (Richard Hay) wakes one morning to find The Penguin (Lydia Baksh) on his doorstep. The Boy overcomes his initial indifference to the seabird’s plight and resolves to help him return home. Along the way, however, the Boy realises he and The Penguin might be drawn together by a shared sense of loneliness.
The show starts early with the ensemble/puppeteers ensuring the youngsters waiting for the curtain to rise do not get restless (or perhaps making them restless) by moving among the audience with mischievous seagull puppets. The puppeteers, directed by Olly Taylor, are absolute troupers, scrambling over seats to make sure as many as possible in the delighted audience have the chance to pet or be pecked by a puppet.
Director Brenton ensures maximum audience involvement, so there is little risk of the youngsters getting bored. Children are invited to help find the missing pieces of The Boy’s boat (involving a scramble under seats to find the lost plug). A very confident child helps launch the vessel and offers advice on the correct procedures. Gruff Rhys’s uplifting score plays a vital part in securing involvement being ridiculously infectious and prompting a clap-along at regular intervals.
Production values are sky-high. Jean Chan’s gorgeous but chilly ice-blue set, made up of waterfront debris, is reflected in the ramshackle costumes worn by the ensemble.
Considering Lydia Baksh does not speak and is swamped in a woolly costume she does a remarkable job of making The Penguin lovable. Regularly appealing to the audience with a series of ‘what do I do now?’ shrugs or casually thumping a seagull.
Oliver Jeffers’s source material for Lost and Found tells the story in a combination of words and beautiful watercolour illustrations. Director Brenton follows the spirit of this approach with a staging that resembles a child’s picture book come to life. The Clerk in a Lost and Found Office retrieves lost items with extendable arms that reach across the stage. In the grand tradition of panto there is a truly awful joke of a customer seeking a lost ‘penguin’ and joyfully grabbing a chocolate bar instead of the live seabird.
The journey to the south pole is told by way of a combination of live action and puppetry. As the boat is tossed upon the sea puppets replace the actors and the impression of the friends drifting closer and closer to each other is created by the simple effect of using different size penguin puppets. There is nothing in the show that might alarm young children. The challenges faced by the friends on their journey are amusingly frustrating rather than frightening.
Lost and Found is likely to be the first live entertainment which some members of the audience have enjoyed and it sets a very high standard- children are unlikely to see a show of this quality again for some time. It is tempting to describe Lost and Found as perfect for young children but actually it is simply perfect.
Runs until 6 January 2024
