Mermaid E-Book

Polly Teale

• Herausgeber: Nick Hern Books
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Serie: NHB Modern Plays
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 80

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

 A bold reimagining of Hans Christian Andersen's tale of love, loss and desire, transported to a contemporary setting.  Beneath the ocean's waves there is no death or pain or separation. Above, the modern world is beset with war, poverty and desire. On her sixteenth birthday, a mermaid rises up to the surface, leaving her childhood behind for ever when she falls in love with a mortal prince. She knows that she can no longer live at the bottom of the ocean - but must she destroy herself in order to be loved? Polly Teale's Mermaid was first performed by Shared Experience and Nottingham Playhouse on a UK tour in 2015.

Leseprobe

Polly Teale

MERMAID

based on the book by

Hans Christian Andersen

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Title Page

Original Production

Dedication

Characters

Author’s Note

Mermaid

An Interview with Polly Teale

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

Mermaid was first performed in a co-production between Shared Experience and Nottingham Playhouse at Nottingham Playhouse on 13 March 2015. The cast was as follows:

MERMAID

Ritu Arya

MOTHER/GRANDMER/QUEEN

Polly Frame

BLUE

Natalie Gavin

PRINCE

Finn Hanlon

MERMAID

Miranda Mac Letten

KING

Steve North

MERMAID

Amaka Okafor

LITTLE MERMAID

Sarah Twomey

Other parts played by members of the company

Director

Polly Teale

Designer

Tom Piper

Choreographer & Movement Director

Liz Ranken

Lighting Designer

Oliver Fenwick

Composer & Sound Designer

Jon Nicholls

Associate Director

Laura Farnworth

Voice Coach

Majella Hurley

The production subsequently toured to West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds; Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Mold; Richmond Theatre; Sherman Cymru, Cardiff; Nuffield Theatre, Southampton; Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh; Watford Palace Theatre and Oxford Playhouse.

For Eden

Characters

BLUE

MOTHER

ELLA

JADE

JOE

KATIE BAXTER

GRANDMER

LITTLE MERMAID

MERMAID ONE

MERMAID TWO

MERMAID THREE

FISHERMAN

MAN

KING

PRINCE

FATHER

NEWS REPORTER

PRIVATE SECRETARY

QUEEN

CHILD ONE

CHILD TWO

CHILD THREE

SECURITY GUARD

SEA WITCH

And FISHERMEN, SOLDIERS, PARAMEDICS, PALACE STAFF, JOURNALISTS, PHOTOGRAPHERS, LADIES-IN-WAITING, PROTESTERS, ROYAL GUESTS, VARIOUS ATTENDANTS

Author’s Note

All other characters are played by members of the company.

The mermaids are dressed in slips and undergarments. There are no tails, only movements that suggest they are moving in water.

The Sea Witch is played by four women conjoined into one.

When the mermaids first break the surface of the ocean and see the world above, they plunge their heads into buckets of water and come up soaking. Until that moment they are dry.

The play was first performed with a choir of teenage girls in each city on tour. The girls also played guests at Katie Baxter’s party and sat on stage throughout the play, joining in with the mermaids to create the sound of their unearthly singing.

The original set had a raised platform beneath which the mermaids could swim. There was a wardrobe, bed and a chair and table, which were washed away into the sea during the storm. The wardrobe hung in mid-air for the rest of the show as if floating.

Blue is always on stage and always visible as our narrator who is imagining and writing into being everything we see. She can speak words with characters or speak occasional sentences as feels right.

In the stage directions I have offered examples of how we realised the script in the original production, but these should not be taken as prescriptive. Feel free to find your own solutions.

P.T.

ACT ONE

A room in a house in a run-down seaside town in a remote part of England. Thirteen-year-old BLUE and her family have an alternative, new-age/grunge look to them. BLUE’s bedroom is decorated with a collage of pictures of mermaids and mythical sea creatures.

The sound of gulls outside.

BLUE sits on the floor surrounded by dropped clothes. She has her phone open and is scanning Facebook and Instagram. She continues to stare at the screen throughout the conversation. Her MOTHER stands in the door carrying the washing basket in her arms. During the scene she picks up clothes from the bedroom floor.

MOTHER. Have you finished that homework?

Silence.

I like that idea, a new version of a fairy story. You let me read it when you’re done? I can guess which one it’ll be.

Silence.

Did you hear what I said? When you’ve done we can watch Bake Off. I’ve made some flapjacks.

BLUE. I’m busy.

MOTHER. What you doing?

BLUE. What’s it look like?

Pause.

MOTHER. You going to see Jade at the weekend?

BLUE. Don’t think so.

MOTHER. Or Ella?

BLUE. No.

MOTHER. Haven’t seen her in ages. Why don’t you invite them over? Have a sleepover. You can have a fire on the beach. Sausages.

BLUE. No thanks.

MOTHER. I’ll get that ice cream you like.

BLUE. I said no thanks.

MOTHER. Camp out in the back like you used to.

BLUE. Are you deaf?

Beat.

MOTHER. There was no need for that.

BLUE. Or just stupid.

MOTHER. That’s enough.

BLUE. Is it?

MOTHER. Your father’ll be home in a minute.

BLUE. And what’s he gonna do about it?

MOTHER. Take away that phone, that’s what.

BLUE (under her breath). Loser.

Beat.

MOTHER. What did you say?

BLUE. Nothing.

MOTHER. Don’t you talk about your father like that. All that he’s done for you.

BLUE. It’s his fault.

MOTHER. What is?

BLUE. Everyone else is invited.

MOTHER. What you talking about?

BLUE. If he had a job.

MOTHER. Invited where?

BLUE. Nowhere. Forget it.

MOTHER. What’s going on?

BLUE. Nothing. Just leave me alone.

MOTHER. Is he to blame for them building a Tesco down the road? Who’s going to buy fresh fish from the back of his boat when they can get frozen for half the price.

BLUE. If he had a job I wouldn’t be wearing trainers you bought from the charity shop –

MOTHER. They’re perfectly fine. Nearly new. They were still in the box –

BLUE. That it turns out used to belong to Katie Baxter who’s having a ‘celebrity party’ for her fourteenth birthday, whose dad’s paid for a make-up artist and professional photographer and a limousine –

MOTHER. You never told me they were hers.

BLUE. Cancer Research they call me. Oxfam. Barnardo’s.

MOTHER. You’ve nothing to be ashamed of. She should be, throwing away a brand-new pair of shoes. Poking fun at someone who hasn’t had her advantages. I’ve a mind to ring her parents –

BLUE. NO!

MOTHER. Or her. Looking down her nose.

BLUE. Don’t you dare.

MOTHER. You don’t need Katie Baxter and her limousine party. You stick with Ella and Jade and tell her to learn some manners.

BLUE. Just shut up about it.

MOTHER. I don’t suppose they’re impressed by her nonsense.

BLUE. What do you know about anything?

MOTHER. I was just saying I don’t suppose they think much of her / behaviour…

BLUE (suddenly). They’re there. Everybody’s there. Singing ‘Happy Birthday’. (Shows her MOTHER a photo on her phone.) Jade, Ella, Cheryl, Emily.

MOTHER. I wouldn’t let you out of the house dressed like that.

BLUE. Maybe that’s why I wasn’t invited.

MOTHER. Just because Ella and Jade are at the party doesn’t mean they like her.

BLUE. They haven’t spoken to me for a fortnight, unless you count Jade giving my swimsuit and snorkel back.

BLUE’s phone rings.

MOTHER. Who’s that?

BLUE (pleased). Ella.

MOTHER. There you go!

BLUE gestures for her MOTHER to leave the room. The MOTHER listens from the other side of the door straining to hear.

BLUE. Hello.

As she answers her phone we see the FaceTime sequence spring to life. A party with music and dancing and flashing lights. Gathered around the camera, a collection of GIRLS dressed up to the nines wearing high heels and make-up. ELLA speaks direct to the camera.

ELLA. Hey, Blue, that boy, the surfer you’ve been crazy about for months, he’s here at the party.

JADE (calling). Joe, come and meet Blue, she never stops talking about you.

JOE. Hiya, Blue.

KATIE BAXTER. Blue told Jade she saw a mermaid on the rocks off The Point. Told her she can hear her singing in a shell she keeps under her pillow.

ELLA (giggling). Shurrup.

KATIE BAXTER. Made up a spell to grow a fish tail, didn’t she, Jade?

ELLA. Katie says you can come to the party. Have your nails done. Look. We had a makeover. Eyelashes and everything.

KATIE BAXTER. Or is her mummy putting her to bed? Is she reading her a bedtime story? Tucking her up with a mermaid song. Hey, Joe, come and give Blue a goodnight cuddle.

JOE. Show us your tits. Sorry, forgot, you haven’t got any.

KATIE BAXTER. Ah, don’t be like that, Joe. Make love not war, that’s what you’re in to, isn’t it, Blue. All that weirdo hippy peace shit.

There’s a big laugh and Miley Cyrus’s ‘Wrecking Ball’ (or similar) is turned up so loud that she can no longer hear their voices. The GIRLS are dancing.

We become aware of BLUE’s MOTHER knocking on the door and calling. BLUE switches off her phone but the party continues in the darkness. BLUE puts on her headphones and finds ‘Wrecking Ball’. We hear it loud as though we are listening to it through the headphones.

MOTHER (trying the door handle). What did she say? She invite you to the party? I can walk you round there if you want to go. Open the door.

BLUE stands on her bed and starts to gyrate provocatively to Miley Cyrus. The party is still alive in BLUE’s imagination in slow motion. They are watching her dance, dancing along. In slow motion KATIE BAXTER starts to dance provocatively with BLUE as if they were best friends. She pulls BLUE down from the bed to the centre of the dance floor. She circles BLUE and they dance together. Throughout the sequence, KATIE BAXTER keeps looking back towards ELLA and JADE, who are watching her and smirking. KATIE BAXTER imitates BLUE, parodying her Miley Cyrus impersonation. The crowd start to laugh and jeer as KATIE BAXTER mimes vomiting behind BLUE’s back. She pushes BLUE backwards and BLUE realises that everyone is laughing at her.

BLUE