پری دریایی: بر اساس داستان پری دریایی کوچولو اثر هانس کریستین آندرسون

by Polly Teale, مزدک بلوری (-Translator)

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.

Genres: Plays

91 pages, Paperback

First published April 9, 2014

Reviews

[beatriz]

“I saw his gaze a shifting sea of questions. I saw longing and fear and tenderness. I saw astonishing beauty, like moonlight on water, and I saw the depths of his loneliness.”

ehhh i think the meaning behind it is very interesting - pondering about war and social injustices as well as the adversities girls and women face (“As a girl I sensed that, to leave behind childhood was to risk losing the freedom to exist on your own terms, to sacrifice your voice in order to try to please others, to gain their approval and love.”) - but the execution is meh at worst and just fine at best

[ems]

pretty in an ugly way

[Rachel Saper]

3.5? I liked the idea and how fluid reality and fantasy became. Definitely an interesting take and I have so many ideas about seeing it live. I am unsure about the ending though. . . The best way to describe it is that it is a watercolor painting and without any shape/structure it becomes a beautiful blob

[Nicole]

Opportunities for eye-catching stagecraft abound in a play that can't really decide what it wants to be about. The fairy tale-ness of it is so attractive though.

[izze]

good message but a lot of subplots going on making it difficult to follow

[Vena]

I saw this play last month and I loved it. I love how Polly Teale made the story of The Little Mermaid relevant to today and set it in our modern times.

There are so many beautiful lines in this. One of my favourites are:
"Butterflies you see, they only live for a few days, or sometimes weeks if they are not devoured by some other creature, but those few days, they are an eternity, having no knowledge of past or future, no knowledge of even its own astonishing beauty, it lives unaware of our gaze, unaware of anything but its own pulsing life, an ecstasy of now and now and now, so that even as they are about to be eaten alive the moment before their extinction is beautiful." Prince.

I found the ending confusing but after reading it again I think I understand it. :-)

Overall, a beautiful story and a wonderful take on a classic fairytale.

[Levi]

Bought & read because it's the next play I will be doing at uni, was really looking forward to it because "yay its based on a fairytale" didn't think much of it during or after reading. If you're looking for a fairy tale play this isn't it, however if you are interested in different portrayals of war it might interest you.

[Katjp]

I absolutely loved this play and was able to read the script on my way home from the theatre. A lovely retelling of a classic.

[Caitriona]

Ehhh. I saw this play live and I think some of the ideas and the staging were excellent, but damn if the dialogue wasn't grating.

[Jodie Santer]

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