"The Little Mermaid"

Neville Studios, Nottingham Playhouse.

The Little Mermaid dreams of a life on the land but finds herself out of her depth when her dreams finally come true.  Her Dad has forbidden her from going up to the surface. Marina bumps into  the Sea Witch, who promises her legs so that she can go on land, but there's a catch! Marina has to steal the biggest diamond in the world for Tamara, the Sea Witch, and to make sure that Marina brings the diamond back within 24 hours, tamara has taken Marina's voice, with the promise that she will get her voice back when she returns to Tamara with the diamond!

This is one of those gorgeous pieces of theatre designed especially for the younger theatre goer, but even if you're a little out of the age range of 3 - 8 years old, believe me, you'll very soon get lost in the narration of this piece of theatre.

The cast of two, Hannah Breedon (Marina) and Ollie West are brilliant at keeping the little ones transfixed and at ease; so much that the young audience members soon have no qualms about joining in with a dance and there's almost like a sense of panto call and response at times.

Keeping children's attention is not easy - I used to be a Children's entertainer many moons ago, so I know what hard work it can be, but Hannah and Ollie breeze through the stage time with this story and ensuring that the young, and not that young, are completely entertained with this lovely twist on the Little Mermaid story.

The story is written by Joe Venable and Rob Gathercole and have given a fresh feel to the story using modern phrases and some clever uses of modern pop culture i.e. mentioning that at the karaoke bar there are singers like Sardina Carpenter, Billie Eelish and, my favourite, Hammer Ed Sheeran. It really feels as if the writers have looked through the eyes of the young to see the world in their eyes. It's very clever, does not patronise and is great fun.

Directed by Alessandra Davison the motion of this ocean is non stop with either one of both actors being on stage or setting up the stage. Ollie gets to play several characters as well as the puppetry, and there are some quick changes of costume involved as he moves from one character to the other in the time that it takes him to go behind the scenery at one end and appear at the other end. The timing for this production with stage time is very closely observed, never giving the audience time to fidget, and always having a focus onstage for them to concentrate on.

The set and costumes are designed by Emma Howson with Ella Barraclough being the Costume Supervisor. The set includes a screen where a video is constantly on with some of the important words and phrases are on view, as well as pictures and cartoon characters. This is in the large rear set design which doubles as all of the other settings, whether that be a laboratory, Dad's Shed, the safe where the diamond is housed or the backdrop to the blue, blue underwater scenes. All very cleverly adaptable to change from one to the other with the simplest of adjustments while being visually attractive. 

The costumes are clever, especially Tamara's which is designed to show at first glance that this character is the bad guy in this show. Ollie's other costumes are designed to be quick to swap and change into while Hannah's show straight away that she is the Little Mermaid in the title of the piece, There's lots of shiny, reflective pieces of clothing to remind us that we are, most of the time, under the sea.

Sam Osborne is in charge of the lighting design as well as the video programming and the caption design that you will see in the show is thanks to Matt Powell. As I said, all very pleasing on the eye and easy to attract the attention of a young audience.

The songs used in this show are so incredibly catchy, and quite sophisticated and clever for children's theatre. The song "Diamond Geezer" which Tamara sings could just as well have been a song from Madness, or even Olly Murs who has the same kind of swag musically, and is very difficult to get out of my head! The opening, and closing song, "Blue" is also one that you will have in your brain, and then wonder where you've heard it from in a few days' time.

The soundscape that you hear as you take your seats and wait for the show to start is so relaxing that you are in danger of relaxing just a little too much!

Stage Manger is Ali Bakewell, whose name I have mentioned in the past, but it was lovely to meet her face to face. Ali organised the youngsters at ground level, which not only made sure that Ollie and Hannah had a close up audience, but also gave the mums and dads a spell of breathing space as well, I imagine.

This is one show that will not leave you feeling blue after you leave and will provide some lovely memories for the children and even some moralistic talking points when the young ones get home. Or it may just be a wonderfully entertaining piece of escapism theatre for a family to enjoy for an hour.

"The Little Mermaid" is at the Nottingham Playhouse Neville Suite until Saturday 3 January 2026, so there's plenty of time to treat yourself, and bring the little ones along as an excuse.

Photographs courtesy of Michael Aiden Photography.