MTYP's Jungle Book is just a little too tame

There's no denying the staying power of Rudyard Kipling's 1894 collection of stories The Jungle Book.

Parents in the audience for Manitoba Theatre for Young People's production of a 2015 stage adaptation by Greg Banks probably remember the classic 1967 Disney animated version.Their kids might be more familiar with this year's live-action remake (or looking forward to yet another live-action take coming in 2018).

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But while the 1967 version offered a lively and comical take and the more recent film an action-packed and CGI-filled romp, this production needs a bit more humour and fun.

The plot details remain familiar to anyone who's read the stories or seen any of the film adaptations. The "man cub" Mowgli (Adriano Sobretodo Jr.) is orphaned in the jungle, where he's raised first by kindly wolves (Jennifer Lyon and Cory Wojcik), and later by the genial but lazy bear Baloo (Wojcik) and the pragmatic panther Bagheera (Kimberley Rampersad).

As Mowgli learns to survive in the jungle and find his place in it, he's menaced by the resident bully, a ferocious tiger named Shere Khan (Carson Nattrass).

There's a thoughtful and appealing message in Banks's adaptation about growing up (Mowgli's infatuation with a group of mischievous monkeys has all the hallmarks of teenage rebellion) and finding your place in the world, and it ends on a touchingly bittersweet note.

But one of the biggest problems here is in the central character. As written by Banks, Mowgli is consistently the least interesting character on stage. And Sobretodo's performance is appropriately child-like, but a bit too subdued to bring out much life in the under-written character.

As a result, while there should be tension while watching Mowgli's adventures in the jungle, he actually feels like a secondary character to his more interesting animal friends and foes and it's hard to get fully drawn into his escapades.

Those animal characters, and the actors portraying them, all fare much better. Wojcik brings a charming schlubbiness and some great physical comedy to his very bear-like Baloo, and Rampersad puts her dance background to great use as a perfectly feline Bagheera.

Nattrass chews the scenery just enough as Shere Khan, who's as much creepy politician as threatening alpha cat here. And Lyon brings a moving tenderness to her work as Mother Wolf, as well as a slinky slither to her take on the hypnotic snake Kaa.

The four also bring some welcome humour to the show as the anarchic monkeys the kind of humour I wish appeared more often in the sometimes too sombre show.

They all have to shift characters rapidly, often mid-scene, and do so seamlessly in Robb Paterson's production, which runs smoothly if in a slightly too measured pace over its 90 minutes.

They also all take turns narrating action which moves the story along quickly, but often leaves it feeling simply too talky. More showing and less telling might inject more life into this adaptation.

It does get great visual flair, though, courtesy of its design team. Robin Fisher's fringed costumes and cleverly designed headpieces are appropriately feral, and let the actors switch quickly from character to character while helping us separate the monkeys from the wolves.

Fisher's striking set, centred around a set of rocky stairs and framed by vines and trees, feels suitably wild.

Composer and sound designer Danny Carroll delivers a percussive soundtrack and some great scene setting through authentic jungle noises, though they may sometimes be a bit loud and intense for younger theatregoers.

And while the most grisly action is alluded to but unseen, there are a couple of scenes (like Mowgli's imprisonment in a snake pit) that might be a bit hard for preschoolers to handle. This one's probably most appropriate for the six-year-old and up crowd.

There are flashes of humour and the sense of grand adventure that's made Kipling's stories a children's mainstay for more than 120 years. But this Jungle Book remains just a little too tame.

The Jungle Book runs at Manitoba Theatre for Young People until Dec. 30.