The New Vic theatre in Newcastle-under-Lyme has unveiled a fresh telling of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid, blending circus skills and inventive design to create a memorable merworld. Adapted by Theresa Heskins and co-directed with Vicki Dela Amedume, this all-ages gig-theatre show features a house band nestled among the audience before the main characters appear.
Rhiannon Skerritt plays Coralie, the littlest mermaid, in a production that emphasises siblinghood over romance. The show highlights suspicion and division between land and sea dwellers, with early upstairs-downstairs comedy as mermaids tell tales of the world above. However, adaptor Heskins muddies the waters by showing the mermaids as gleefully cruel and the pearl-diving prince, Caspian (Darcy Braimoh), as guilty of exploitation as the Sea Witch (Harrison Sweeney).
Circus choreography by Amedume uses aerial silks, whirlpool-like spiral apparatuses, and routines that convey the witch's slippery nature. Designer Laura Willstead's stage floor functions as seabed and sand, with a maze-like structure for the water's rippling surface and glowing rod puppets for sea creatures. The witch is voiced in darkness by Inês Sampaio, while the aerial Sweeney remains silent, eerily emphasising the witch's longing to steal Coralie's song.
Skerritt appealingly handles physical comedy and ensures a message of goodwill without coming across as goody-goody. Costume designer Lis Evans gives the band funkier outfits than the lively soulful compositions of Arun Ghosh. When band member Alexander Bean becomes a deus ex machina Poseidon, he does so with a voice as deep as the ocean. This bubbly production has dark undercurrents, but it's the designs that truly dazzle.
