Writer and director Polly Teale transports Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Little Mermaid to a contemporary setting in Mermaid, a co-production between Shared Experience and Nottingham Playhouse.
She “plunders the haunting tale for its dark, erotic, mythic power” in this “powerful coming-of-age story about love, loss and longing”.
The cast features Natalie Gavin, Polly Frame, Ritu Arya, Finn Hanlon, Miranda Letten, Steve North, Amka Okafor and Sarah Twomey.
Mermaid is designed by Tom Piper who recently designed the art installation Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red at the Tower of London.
During the creative development of the adaptation, Shared Experience explored the idea of using an on-stage choir of young people. The company discovered that their presence heightened the central themes of the play which explores self-image, identity and the pressure on young people today from the media and Internet.
Shared Experience has created a participation project around Mermaid which is open to young women aged 14 to 20. In each of the cities the tour is visiting, the company is recruiting a chorus of young women who will be part of the production, performing on stage and creating the sound of the mermaids' singing.
Mermaid opens at Nottingham Playhouse on Friday 13 March and runs until Saturday 21 March. It then tours to Leeds, Mold, Richmond, Cardiff, Southampton, Edinburgh, Watford and Oxford until 23 May.