RECOMMENDED FOR: Lower/Middle Secondary Students
A PLAY TO: read, read aloud, study, perform scenes and excerpts, use as a stimulus for creating and responding, producing for an audience (see licensing requirements)
CAST: Mermaid 1, 2 and 3, a total ensemble of 14
STYLES: Fairytale/fable, visual theatre, disjointed time, dance, drama
THEMES AND CONCEPTS: Identity, journey, hope, agency
CURRICULUM LINKS: The Arts – Drama/Dance, English/Literacy, General capabilities
SYNOPSIS: The Mermaid is a reimagining of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, created by a team of teenage and adult theatre-makers. Their retelling of the story traces the journey of a fifteen-year-old mermaid, her transformation, obsession, sacrifice, self-destruction, and self-actualization. A tragicomedy with a teenage chorus that has a screaming vision for a hopeful tomorrow. A poetic piece of visual theatre about finding your voice and the power that comes with using it.
STAGING: This is a contemporary performance text in response to Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale, The Little Mermaid. This work blends aspects of both tragic and comic forms to retell the narrative. In this adaptation, spoken text is interwoven with movement sequences to explore the story.
ADDITIONAL LINKS: The Mermaid trailer: The Mermaid Trailer at La Mama
