The Little Mermaid Ballet At The Mayflower, Southampton Review
TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW.
Reviewed by Amy Dixon
What a truly beautiful performance of The Little Mermaid by David Nixon CBE with music by Sally Beamish OBE and performed by Northern Ballet. The Ballet is showing at The Mayflower Theatre in Southampton from October 20th-22nd 2022.
For younger children it is definitely worthwhile explaining that the storyline is not the same as the Disney version of the Little Mermaid, it follows the darker Hans Christian Andersen’s version that does not match the Happy Ending of Disney. My daughter liked reading the story in the brochure whilst waiting for the show to start.
The Story follows Marilla (Saeka Shirai), a young Mermaid with two older sisters. Marilla has a beautiful singing voice (Stephanie Irvine) and wishes to go and see the human world like her older sisters. She has a playful friendship with Dillion the seahorse (Fillipo De Villio) who worries about her leaving the underwater world. Marilla sees the human world and falls in love with Prince Adair (Joseph Taylor) when she rescues him from the storm. She makes a deal with Lyr, lord of the Sea (Sean Bates) to leave the underwater world and join the human world. However this causes great pain and loss of her voice. However Prince Adair falls in Love with Dana (Sarah Chun) when she finds him washed up on the beach and marries him. Marilla is distraught and her sisters make another deal with Lyr, Lord of the Sea to help her return to the sea however this comes at a further price, loss of their beautiful hair and Marilla will need to kill Prince Adair. Marilla still desperately in love with Prince Adair cannot kill him and instead launches the dagger into the storm, sacrificing herself for the one she loved.
My daughter was blown away by the beautiful dresses, particularly the sparkly mermaid dresses. She was in awe of how strong the dancers were that were lifting the Mermaids up as they were ‘swimming’ around the set and needed some convincing that there were no strings holding them up! The Mermaids ‘swimming’ looked very realistic as the moved so effortlessly whilst being carried by the water dancers.
My particular favourite scene was the ship scene with Prince Adair and the sailors which involved the synchronisation of the water dancers, it was spectacular to see and mimicked the waves and storms beautifully.
The costumes were beautiful and showed the difference in scenes and characters. The wedding party costumes seemed to be Asian inspired with gold and ornate patterns and again showed the strength of the male dancers and poise of the female dancers.
The set was minimal with 2x semi circle main props that were moved to transition from scenes by the dancers, from coral/rocky sides to mirrored effect for underwater scenes. The mirrored side worked well with the under water dancing scenes as you could see the reflection of the dancers which added further dimensions. The beginning scene took you underwater with the dappled lighting effect and the blues and greens in the background set and costumes of the water dancers.
The show had a larger Orchestra the Northern Ballet Sinfonia, the music was faultless and really took you along the story.. raising your heartrate with the momentum of the storm and alternatively sweeping you through the joyful wedding celebrations.
I would definitely go again to see this performance, although I would suggest a matinee performance with younger audiences as the classical music and late evening did make my 7 year old very sleepy in the second half. The show is advertised as suitable for 5+ years.
The Mayflower Theatre is close to rail links and has plenty of parking including a multi-story car park close by which offers free parking from 6pm, I would encourage visitors to arrive early as traffic can be busy coming into Southampton.
The Theatre itself is very clean and the interior has had a revamp so looks very fresh and well maintained with new more generous seats for both leg room and ample behinds. The theatre was well staffed with plenty of helpful friendly ushers, giving directions to the facilities and where to purchase refreshments prior to the start and in the interval.
Rating: 5/5
Ticket prices range from £12 to £43.50. With Matinee and evening performance options.