Bears in Space ** C-

This cult hit by the Irish theater group Collapsing Horse has arrived at 59E59 Theatres after sold-out runs in Dublin, Edinburgh and London. The four actors — Jack Gleeson, whose Game of Thrones credentials were no doubt a draw for many; Aaron Heffernan, who designed the puppets; Cameron Macaulay, who wrote the music and Eoghan Quinn, who wrote the script, are all appealing performers. The deliberately scruffy puppets and makeshift props are appropriate to the playful spirit. The clever staging includes animation techniques as well as Indonesian puppetry. The story of two ursine astronauts who have a misadventure on the planet Metrotopia struck me as less entertaining than it was meant to be. Douglas Adams did it better in his galactic hitchhiker series. Part of the problem is the theater. Even though there are only seven rows of seats, the action seemed remote and hard to decipher from my seat. I image it was much more effective in some tiny fringe venue. The audience was loving every minute of it, so I felt that I was the odd man out. Dan Colley directed. Running time: 75 minutes, no intermission.