We all know the story of The Little Mermaid from the Disney film: Ariel falling in love with Prince Eric; Sebastian the crab; that seagull that looks through the telescope backwards; and a lovely wedding at the end, after a bit of a barney with Ursula the sea witch. But Polly Teale, Artistic Director of Shared Experience theatre company, takes us far far away from the bright colours and brighter songs of Disney. Her Mermaid is based on the much darker Hans Christian Andersen original, boldly reimagining the story with some very interesting things to say about the movement from innocence to experience, and the vital things we lose by letting ourselves be carried along by the current of fairy-tale romance.
The play starts in the modern world and it’s a relief when Blue, our bullied teen narrator, starts her underwater tale. She escapes from her life into a the world of mermaids that her grandmother told her about, weaving real life and the story world until it’s impossible to tell which is which. Anything, frankly, to get away from the overlong shouty party scene featuring a soundtrack of Miley Cyrus.
Once we’re in the water, things become magical. The movement of the mermaids is so graceful, their gestures so fluid, that we’re instantly transported below the waves. There are no special effects, no fake mermaid tails, just absolute control over the body.
The Disney Little Mermaid can be seen as a romantic love story, where Ariel gives up her home for love, but finds freedom when she swaps her fins for feet. Instead, here the emphasis is on the fact that the mermaid must rely solely on her looks to get the Prince to fall in love with her. She sacrifices her voice, and destroys herself, when he is seemingly incapable of love anyway.
Stunningly told, and visually arresting (the shipwreck scene where furniture is lost to the depths is brilliant), these parts of Mermaid are not to be missed. The modern sections are a little less engaging, and though the play lightly handles the shallowness of our culture, during the sections that touched on the war, modern life, the royal family, I just longed to return below the surface.
Dive in, the water’s beautiful. ★★★★☆ Deborah Sims 20/05/15
