News

Mermaid reimagining makes for dark drama

Canberra playwright Emma Gibson has reimagined Hans Christian Andersen’s iconic tale of love, pain and sacrifice.

24 Mar 2014

Richard Watts

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Performing Arts

Danish author Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Little Mermaid has enthralled artists as diverse as Dvořák and Disney, and over the years has been adapted for almost every medium imaginable, from opera to manga. Canberra playwright Emma Gibson is the latest artist to fall under the mermaid’s spell, though her reimagining of the tale as a one-woman show starring WAAPA graduate and freelance performer/choreographer Alison Plevey is considerably darker than the saccharine take on the story told by the Walt Disney Studio.

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Richard Watts

Richard Watts is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM, and serves as the Chair of La Mama Theatre's volunteer Committee of Management. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, and was awarded the status of Melbourne Fringe Living Legend in 2017. In 2020 he was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize. Most recently, Richard was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Green Room Awards Association in June 2021. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts