Casting and tour dates have been announced for Shared Experience and Nottingham Playhouse’s co-production of the world premiere of Mermaid.
The play is a re-imagining of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Little Mermaid. Writer and director Polly Teale transports the story to a contemporary setting and “plunders the haunting tale for its dark, erotic, mythic power”.
Natalie Gavin plays The Girl. Her theatre credits include the 2014 production of The Crucible directed by Yäel Farber at the Old Vic.
Polly Frame plays The Mother / Grandmer / Queen. She appeared in After Miss Julie at the Young Vic’s Maria Studio in 2012 and Macbeth at Chichester, in the West End and on Broadway. Further casting will be announced later.
During the creative development of Polly Teale's adaptation, Shared Experience explored the idea of using an on-stage choir of young people and discovered that their presence heightened the central themes of the play which explores self-image, identity and the pressure on young people from the media and Internet.
In each city on the tour, Shared Experience will recruit a chorus of young women aged 14 to 20 who will perform on stage and create the sound of the mermaids' singing.
Mermaid will be designed by Royal Shakespeare Company associate designer Tom Piper who designed Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red at the Tower of London.
Mermaid opens at Nottingham Playhouse from 13 until 21 March. It tours to West Yorkshire Playhouse from 24 until 28 March, Theatr Clwyd, Mold from 31 March until 4 April, Richmond Theatre from 7 until 11 April, Sherman Cymru, Cardiff from 21 until 25 April, Nuffield Theatre, Southampton from 28 April until 2 May, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh from 6 until 9 May, Watford Palace Theatre from 12 until 16 May and Oxford Playhouse from 19 until 23 May.