‘Caterpillar’ and ‘Cricket’ Come to Life

Eric Carle’s “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” a picture book beloved by preschoolers since its first publication in 1969, is brought to memorable life as a glow-in-the-dark puppet production by the Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia.

Making a rare Southland tour, the company is presenting a double bill--it includes another Carle favorite, “The Very Quiet Cricket”--and both short plays, which opened at Pepperdine College’s Smothers Theatre last Saturday, are filled with all manner of whimsical insects, trees, and a smiling sun and moon.

A prerecorded narrator (Costas Halavrezos) reads the books with a storyteller’s rhythm, and each is a quiet delight, true to Carle’s vivid paper-collage art and his gentle-spirited nature tales.

They are also impressive pieces of black-light puppetry, with only two puppeteers--Tanis Delaney and Liette Legere--manipulating the many insect puppets, as well as the parade of fruit, trees, flowers and foliage. Masked, wearing head-to-toe black and performing in front of a fall of black drapes, the puppeteers are rendered almost entirely invisible. With their unobtrusive artistry, the rod puppets and set pieces seem to leap and float and fly in jewel-toned, fluorescent luminousness against the inky black.

The caterpillar, who starts as a blue egg on a green leaf, is an immediate hit. When he “hatches” from his egg, his round, red face and pliable, multi-legged body earn coos of delight from adults as well as kids in the audience. As the caterpillar munches his way through an apple, two pears, three plums, four strawberries, etc., the audience, so familiar with the story that it doesn’t need prompting, fills in the refrain that comes after each meal: “But he was still hungry.”

The caterpillar’s transformation into a “great big fat caterpillar,” a cocoon and then a gorgeous butterfly is a treat too.

“The Very Quiet Cricket,” about a little cricket who fails to make a sound when he rubs his wings together, until he meets a special lady cricket, is an opportunity for all manner of wonderful insect puppets to appear on the scene: A cloud of lavender-winged mosquitoes, a huge praying mantis, an enormous luna moth, a twitchy-legged little spittle bug and more.

Jim Morrow, who created the puppets and directs, gives both pieces the lovely hushed charm of much-requested bedtime stories, complemented by composer Steven Naylor’s playful and tender score.

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* “Eric Carle’s ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ and ‘The Very Quiet Cricket,’ ” Norris Center, 27570 Crossfield Drive, Rolling Hills Estates, Sunday at 1 and 4 p.m. $14. (310) 544-0403. Also Haugh Performing Arts Center, Citrus College, 1000 W. Foothill Blvd., Glendora, March 24 at 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. $5. (626) 963-9411.