Skip to main content
Inky slick and the mermaid
SIMON PARSONS is swept away on the running tide of a dynamic new version of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale
FRIEND OR ANEMONE? Liana Cottrill as The Little Mermaid [Johan Persson]

The Little Mermaid
Bristol Old Vic

 

BRISTOL have come up trumps with this year’s festive offering, a simplified but gloriously colourful and dynamic ecological version of Hans Christian Andersen’s much loved fairy tale.

The titular character, the only remaining mermaid in an ocean devasted by oil production, sacrifices her subaquatic existence in a desperate attempt to pursue the human who promises some hope for restoring the coral and revitalising sea life.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
arnolfini
Exhibition review / 3 March 2026
3 March 2026

SIMON PARSONS applauds an artist who rescues and rehumanises stories of women, the victims of violence, from a feminist perspective

arcadia
Theatre Review / 11 February 2026
11 February 2026

MARY CONWAY becomes impatient with the intellectual self-indulgence of Tom Stoppard in a production that is, nevertheless, total class

cyrano
Theatre review / 8 October 2025
8 October 2025

GORDON PARSONS is blown away by a superb production of Rostand’s comedy of verbal panache and swordmanship

wetleg
Music review / 28 July 2025
28 July 2025

WILL STONE relishes the chance to hear the Isle of Wight indie sensation in an intimate setting