Browse reviews

Brighton Fringe 2015

The Mermaid’s Tale

Bright Moon Theatre of Puppetry

Genre: Children's Theatre

Venue: Little Beach Boutique

Festival:


Low Down

The Mermaid’s Tale is billed as "a selection of watery stories and shanties of the sea; featuring a beautiful mermaid, treasure, lots of fish and a majestic wooden ship! Bright Moon Theatre lives inside an old accordion box and contains homespun folk stories and handmade puppets by Imogen Di Sapia. Combining a love of theatre crafts with reworked traditional tales and therapeutic stories, Imogen invites you into her world of contemporary storytelling."

Review

The Little Beach Boutique is perfrect venue for this intimate little show, which takes place in its cellar. Step out of the noise and bustle of the North Laine and you’ll find yourself welcomed to a realm of ocean, ships, mermaids, stories and poetry

Brighton Moon Theatre of Puppetry is Imogen di Sapia, who tells us a self-penned tale of love. She has a warm stage presence and a very accessible style, chatting easily and involving us gently in the proceedings.

She shares her story as a beautifully crafted galleon ship is softly rocked with her foot. A poem from the singer Seth Lakeman adds to the mood, and younger children will be easily drawn into the whole thing. There’s plenty to look at – from sea shells to an ocean-swirl backdrop. The puppetry is simply done and draws the eye – no attempts at clever tricks – just direct storytelling that invites you to meet it all with your own imagination. The performer has created a performance space that will more than meet that imagination half-way – lovingly created with beautiful, natural things, carefully and conscuosuly placed.

This is theatre of simplicity – no garish colours or TV references. The whole show has a throughly traditional feel. It is a very short show and I left at the end, wishing for more. It lasted for about twenty minutes and there’s nothing wrong with keeping things short. However, I do think this particular show would benefit from a bit more material. It is all done with such welcoming warmth, another story, song or poem would only enhance it.

But if you are looking for something settling, something to spark the imagination and warm the heart, then head downstairs for the Mermaid’s Tale.

 

Published