Mermaid

A bold reimagining of Hans Christian Andersen's tale of love, loss and desire, transported to a contemporary setting. 

Beneath the ocean's waves there is no death or pain or separation. Above, the modern world is beset with war, poverty and desire.

On her sixteenth birthday, a mermaid rises up to the surface, leaving her childhood behind for ever when she falls in love with a mortal prince. She knows that she can no longer live at the bottom of the ocean - but must she destroy herself in order to be loved?

Polly Teale's Mermaid was first performed by Shared Experience and Nottingham Playhouse on a UK tour in 2015.



Polly Teale is Artistic Director of Shared Experience. Her other plays for the company include the Time Out and Evening Standard Award-winning After Mrs Rochester, Brontë, and an acclaimed adaptation of Jane Eyre.



'A beautiful, stylistic and intelligent adaptation'



'Wonderfully atmospheric'



'An enchanting fairy story brought splashing into present-day, superbly woven around a highly descriptive text'