Review: Northern Ballet's Little Mermaid at Sheffield Lyceum

From slippers swishing and landing almost soundlessly on the stage, to Marilla the mermaid’s mute attempts at song, every tortured, pained emotion in Northern Ballet’s beautiful show is expressed wordlessly through movement, with perfect, precise anguish.

Faithful to the original Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, there’s no Disney happy ending here. My seven-year-old, whilst transfixed by her first ballet and aware she wouldn’t be seeing Ariel, was still saddened by Marilla’s demise (and by the absence of a fish called Flounder… the mermaid’s best friend here is an endearing seahorse named Dillion).

There’s precious little primary-coloured cartoon hue either. A simple set consists of two huge arcs which slide in, out and around to form ingeniously the mother-of-pearl cliffs of the underwater world, the dark cave of the dastardly Lord of the Sea, the bow of the prince’s ship and the walls of his castle, plus the spires of the cathedral where he marries.

The dancers – an international cast from countries as far afield as Japan, Canada, New Zealand, and the US – are, of course, superb – this is Northern Ballet, after all. Every muscle and sinew, each effortless lift and graceful leap are testament to their years of dedication to their art.

The lead dancers hail from closer to home. Harrogate-born premier ballerina Abigail Prudames as Marilla, and principal soloist Joseph Taylor, from Skegness, as Prince Adair, have been dancing these parts for five years on and off since the ballet premiered in 2017, and their experience shows. Together they are a match made in underwater heaven.

The standout scenes are when Marilla takes centre stage – in Act One, her excruciating en-pointe pain exploring her legs for the first time, and in Act Two at the pre-wedding celebration when the humans gather to gape at her ethereal solo dance.

She’s a fish out of water alright – other-worldly and strange – and the show speaks not just of unrequited love and sacrifice but of the solitary, lonely pain of being ‘other’.

This is a girl who could never marry the prince, not just because of his mix-up with the woman who does become his bride. It’s because on land, even with legs, the Little Mermaid so obviously does not belong.

Marilla, in the expert hands of David Nixon OBE’s choreography, is so not ‘one of them’ it’s agony – she is fluid, fragile, occasionally just a little bit frightening.

Her rippling movements and fish-like mannerisms are of the sea – a complete contrast to the poised, powerful assurance of the land-dwellers. Her sparkling eyes, the turquoise braid in her silver hair, her eager, naive devotion to a man who fails to fully see her… she could never be part of his world, and wastes her own life trying.

Together with a sweeping score played live by the magnificent Northern Ballet Sinfonia orchestra, and some shimmering, mesmerising costumes and hypnotic lighting, the production is an evening of watery wonderfulness.

Let it wash over you, before it concludes its run in Belfast, Southampton and Newcastle next month

The Little Mermaid by Northern Ballet is at the Lyceum, Sheffield, until Saturday, September 24.