Set in a Wellington of the future, The Little Mermaid sets out to “Rock the Boat” and from its high-energy opening the audience is caught up in a rollicking, sea faring adventure.

Writers Gavin Rutherford and Simon Leary have pulled out all stops with references to Wellington – climate change has meant the city is underwater, Crabby is looking for a new home after hers has been yellow-stickered, the lair of the Sea Witch is covered in sewage, the Te Papa wreck is a container of treasure. [More] 

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The instant we see, in the programme, the setting for this panto version of The Little Mermaid is Wellington Heights in 3021 we know it will be very different from the original Hans Christian Anderson tale (1837) and Disney’s film animation (1989). 

Playwrights Simon Leary and Gavin Rutherford have created an ingenious blend of classic modern and futuristic, retaining the core element of cross-border relationships between mer-people and land-people while giving them fun new names, referencing recognisable elements of Wellington and adding an implicit warning about Climate Change.

The image of the wai tai of Te Whanganui a Tara lapping at the base of the windy Wellington sign, on what used to be the airport end of Miramar Peninsular, says it all. And the everlasting war between the mer-people and land-people continues.

As packaged by
– Susan Wilson’s deft directorial hand,
– Michael Nicholas Williams’ spirited musical direction, arrangements and live accompaniment,
– Natasha McAllister and Jthan Morgan’s lively and often witty choreography,
the diverse yet uniformly brilliant cast of seven, in
– superb costumes by Sheila Horton,
– on Anna Lineham Robinson’s crafty set which moves seamlessly above and below the sea thanks to her wealth of projected images,
– with Marcus McShane’s dynamic lighting and Tim Seconi’s dramatic sound design astutely operated by Deb McGuire and Seconi
deliver satire, comedy, drama, near tragedy and delight with songs and dance. This is a very welcome end-of-year entertainment to appeal to all ages and stages.

In the title role, Natasha McAllister’s Coral opens the show with thrilling trills and so completely wins us over with her singing voice in the first Act that we can only grieve when she trades it in, along with her tail, for the legs that will allow her to seek out the young land-man she saved from drowning.

Lyall was unconscious when Coral sang to him but he remembers her voice. While he’s not exactly a prince, his mother Shelly has told him he’s special because he came into being through immaculate conception (yeah, right). Their family name is Bay, by the way, relating to an era long lost in the rising tides of time. Jake McKay (a recent Toi Whakaari graduate), physically and vocally adept with a quietly charming personality, is ideal as Lyall.

Gavin Rutherford coasts through the Shelly Bay dame role with an aplomb that belies his/her impeccable skills at winning our sympathy with her “I’m just a poor fisher woman” lament, delivering risqué asides while moving the story along, and helming robust audience interaction – not to mention the traditional naughtily-nuanced flirting with a man in the front row (who happens to me this time: is that why they sat me up front for once?).

Shelly also has her eye on King Lando who, it turns out, she knew a long time ago when he ran a chicken restaurant, before his rise to Wellington Heights where land values have become stratospheric. Being somewhat related to a mayor of a millennium ago, it seems the mere mention of Shelly Bay gives him conniptions. Simon Leary invests Lando with all the confident, privileged ignorance-based arrogance the role requires while allowing Shelly’s attraction to him to be credible. Leary also operates and eventually voices an exquisitely crafted stingray puppet called Death Shadow.

Trae Te Wiki engagingly navigates Coral’s best friend Crabby – a hermit crab – through a range of states, from fear of Death Shadow through every other emotion, while forever having to deal with her quest for a home that isn’t damp and/or falling apart, somewhat reflecting the rental and housing crisis on land.

Contrasting subservient Shaggy, Lando’s PA, with the majestic Queen Neptuna, Jthan Morgan inhabits the roles as if born to them. Shaggy’s fluency with NZ Sign Language and the scene where they teach voiceless Coral and us key elements, add a special dimension to the show. It reflects how normalised our third official language has become, thanks mostly to the Covid-19 updates.

Every panto needs a baddie and Kathleen Burns plays the part of Bermuda the evil sea witch – sister of Neptuna; aunt of Coral – with relish. Her twitchy-floaty octopus tentacles enhance her inherent menace. Yet given what we have done to the land we purport to value, when she calls us “Stupid!” we have to concede she has a point.

Our nine year-old companions get that point quite clearly. And the six year-old, who loves the Ladybird version of the Hans Christian Anderson original with all its ruthless plot twists and tragic ending, is happy to see The Little Mermaid the pantomime resolved more positively.

The fabulous singing climaxes wonderfully in the finale but it’s not a sugar-coated happy ending. The message is that when different cultures know each other better, fear and distrust evaporate, and we can all just get along – even add to each other’s quality of life. Rather than the frothy romance of weddings, it is the embracing of diplomacy that brings hope for the future, individuals’ lust for absolute power notwithstanding.  

In her programme note, Susan Wilson has written a comprehensive and well-deserved tribute to all who have contributed to Circa’s proud tradition of producing pantomimes over the past 17 years. It reads like a farewell speech but she’s non-committal on that. There is also a whisper that this is Gavin Rutherford’s swansong as Dame; that a different team will deliver next year’s pantomime. Watch for their 2022 programme launch in a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile do yourselves and your families a favour: don’t miss this opportunity to see this Circa panto in the form we have come to know and love. 

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