The New Vic Theatre has long been renowned for its Christmas productions that have provided festive family fun for the season year after year. Much of the credit has to go to the directorial wisdom of Theresa Heskins but she has now been joined by Vicki Dela Amedume and the production has gone to another level.
The Artistic Director of Upswing has given a definite uptick to the show and the combination of acting and circus excellence has produced a magical and mesmerizing piece of musical theatre that can be enjoyed by all ages.
The Little Mermaid is one of the many fairy tales to come from the fervent mind of Hans Christian Andersen and the Co-Directors have kept as close to the original concept as possible. The story of Coralie (Rhiannon Skerritt) – a young mermaid who cannot wait for her birthday. She will then receive her siren song that will allow her to visit the land above the ocean and make contact with this strange race called humans.
Her elder sisters feed her some generally false information about how the people with things called legs talk and conduct themselves but when she has a sight of Caspian (Darcy Braimoh) diving for pearls she becomes intrigued and this intrigue is heightened when she is able to save the diver when he gets into difficulties.
Coralie’s desire is to be able to walk in the world above the oceans and her ambitions are fulfilled when she is seduced into a pact with the Sea Witch (Harrison Sweeney).
However, an agreement with the Witch always causes problems. The loss of her fins means that she can never again live in the deep sea and the Witch is not satisfied with snaring just Coralie into her evil plan. Will Poseidon (Alexander Bean) wake from his slumbers long enough to right the wrongs? Or will Coralie become not just an ex-mermaid but an ex-human too?
Ines Sampaio does a great job as narrator Red Whip Coral both in prose and as leader of the highly effective live band. But that could be said of everyone who takes part as the cast and ensemble meld together to make a wonderful experience for the audience.
The Little Mermaid has a touch of everything. There is great acting, wonderful movement and scenes that are scary enough to make the youngsters wince but are alleviated by the humour of Coralie finding her land legs.
What is special though is the depiction of life under the ocean ceiling. This is all done by beautifully controlled aerial acrobatics and the canny use of puppetry to show sea life in movement. For the latter there must be huge congratulations for Beverley Norris-Edmunds who directed the puppetry and dance movement choreography.
Arun Ghosh has put together a fine score as Musical Director and Laura Willstead and Lis Evans have once again combined to make an awesome set and costumes. The lighting and projections are beautifully designed by Daniella Beattie and this work is greatly enhanced by Alex Day’s sound design.
For me it was a huge honour to attend a performance where the auditorium was filled with primary school children. It was a heartwarming experience to see them agog with the wondrous scenes passing before their eyes.
Hopefully this little theatrical gem will have planted the seed of inspiration for them to continue on a long theatrical journey.
Three syllables sum up The Little Mermaid. Fab-U-Lous
This production has a running time of approximately 1 hour 50 minutes including interval and continues until January 24th. For ticket information contact tickets@newvictheatre.org.uk
