This post features gifted experiences
A Christmas play at Waterside in Sale is one of our most treasured Christmas traditions and we are big fans of Stuff and Nonsense theatre company so we had high hopes for The Man Who Wanted to be a Penguin at Waterside!
“The Man Who Wanted to be a Penguin is the story of an extraordinary explorer and pioneering problem-solver. Planning his latest mission to the Antarctic he is learning to speak Penguin and hopes that you will too! Through puppetry and song, this playful show celebrates wild creativity and the joy of individuality.”
Ben (13) described The Man Who Wanted to be a Penguin as quite possibly the most random thing he’d ever seen, and I must admit I can see where he was coming from!
The Man Who Wanted to be a Penguin by Stuff & Nonsense sees the story of an eccentric man who lives alone and spends most of his time in his shed creating bonkers inventions and making a lot of noise about it – thoroughly irritating his neighbours in the process.
After nobody turns up to the man’s birthday party, he decides that he’d actually quite like to live alone, far away from anyone else. With the help of a globe he had received as a birthday gift and upon the advice of his Postman he decides to go to Antarctica to live with the penguins. Obviously.
Ahead of his journey, the man decides to learn how to speak “Penguin”, a class which the audience are encourage to participate in. Once the man has learned how to speak “Penguin” and has packed his suitcase with surprisingly sparse supplies for an adventure to the South Pole, he dons his coat (which turns out to very useful) and sets off on his travels!
The shed becomes an aeroplane before becoming an Antarctic landscape with the help of piles of snowy white duvets – although the set and props are minimal, they are incredibly well used and any changes of the set are done by the performers as part of the story so that you are just swept along with it.
The man finds the Antarctic with the help of an intrepid (and not very useful) explorer called Shackleton who he met along the way. At first it seems that the man regrets his choice to move to Antarctica as it is far colder and lonelier than he could have every imagined but then, whilst he is sleeping in a tent made from his coat (which also makes toast . . .) the penguins appear. The man, using his newly found penguin words, makes friends with the pengiuns and decides they should have a party – but the penguins don’t have time for that, it’s “Laying Day”
We learn that penguins keep their eggs warm on their feet for 61 days and huddle together to keep warm, taking it in turns to be on the outside of the spiral. Unfortunately, this year the penguins are colder than ever, their feet turn blue and they start to panic that they won’t be able to keep their eggs warm. The man and his impressive coat, help the penguins to keep their eggs warm through the harshest of incubation periods – helping him to feel wanted and needed by his new friends!
The Man Who Wanted to be a Penguin certainly had moments of magic – the incredibly clever dancing coat and the magical snowfall at the end of the performance however I think it just felt more random than magical on the whole – as a family we agreed it lacked the festive magic or humour we’ve come to expect from Christmas performances at Waterside – it’s absolutely worth a watch, it just wasn’t our favourite.
The Man Who Wanted to be a Penguin runs at Waterside in Sale from Wednesday 30th November to Saturday 31st December 2022
You can book tickets for The Man Who Wanted to be a Penguin online now.
Pictures © Jason Lock Photography +44 (0) 7889 152747 +44 (0) 161 431 4012 info@jasonlock.co.uk www.jasonlock.co.uk
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