LIKE Stirling-based Wee Stories Theatre, Bristol's Storybox is anxious to reclaim the less saccharin originality of some of our best-loved tales from Disneyfication. While the former's Labyrinth ridiculed Hercules, Rod Burnett's telling of the Hans Christian Andersen's coming-of-age fable includes an epilogue that bluntly tells the audience that his sad ending is better than the video's happy one because his is true. Were the kids reduced to quivering wrecks of emotional insecurity by this revelation? Not that I noticed.
Burnett's Little Mermaid is a paragon of effective simplicity. A simple drum becomes the moon, a sword handle doubles as a boat, and clever lighting creates the character of the sea-witch, who has many of the best lines. ''The men up there don't like tails on their girlfriends,'' she warns our heroine. ''There are plenty more fish in the sea.''
The hag's character is the best manifestation of the transformation the story has undergone during the voyage from Copenhagen to Burnett's native Bristol. There is a practical seamanship about his craft which includes the audience's vocal involvement in the transformation of the mermaid into a two-legged creature, with the assistance of a screwdriver.
A beautiful thing she is, too, the show's sole puppet, but Burnett's hands are his primary mode of physical expression, becoming fireworks, birds, the mermaid's sisters and, finally, the little one's departing soul. It is a wonderfully intimate show that Burnett directs squarely at the tots in the front row, so that even the MacBob studio seems like a mighty big space.
n Part of the Puppet Animation Festival 2000. At Paisley Arts Centre today, performances at 11am and 1pm.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article