Love Among the Penguins

A heart-warming feel-good comedy about the search for love, acceptance, and penguins.

Penguins, like you and me, can’t tell the difference between other male and female penguins. During the annual mating season, this quirk leads Kev [the penguin] to couple up with Miguel [the penguin], a gay penguin coupling not uncommon in real life. Very loosely based on true events, the play follows Kev and Miguel’s story, as well as that of their best friends Meggie and Willis, from their perspective and the perspective of the humans. The play also follows a documentary filmmaking team as we see how the ‘famous’ penguin documentary that shook the world ‘Love Among the Penguins’ was put together.

The piece is quirky, sarcastic, and satirical - Inspired by Wes Anderson, Richard Curtis rom-coms and incorporating the styles of Kneehigh, Frantic Assembly, and traditional Farce, the play seeks to be bold and unorthodox theatrically.

Some of the cast multirole, and play both penguins and human characters. There will be live musical score, with members of the cast playing musical instruments themselves. The play features a mating song, two physical theatre sequences, and general overall penguin silliness. However, at its heart the play is about relationships, being yourself, and breaking the norm.

Actors play the penguins through physicality, and deliver the lines in a very anthropomorphised way. The comedy comes from the little penguin quirks that break otherwise traditional dialogue.

Written and directed by Alex Thomas, Love Among the Penguins runs from Sunday 4 December to Tuesday 6 December at Mardon Hall in Exeter.

Performances at 7.30pm daily.

Tickets £4.50, on the door.