Nottingham Theatre Royal – until Saturday 29 June 2024
Reviewed by Louise Ford
4****
Didn’t make it to Disney!
As we know there are always two sides to every story and Unfortunate looks to cast a camp light over the back story of the evil sea witch, Ursula, and try and right some wrongs.
Disney’s 1989 cartoon of Little Mermaid introduced us to Ursula (perhaps not so) loosely based on the daring drag queen Divine, all quiff and lurid eyeshadow. In Little Mermaid Ursula is treated as a cruel joke and it’s time to kick ass and give her the credit she deserves. So let’s delve under the filthy waters (where our poo goes) and see what really happened.
The book and lyrics are by Grant and Daniel Foxx. There are some interesting shifts from the original story not only around size, female role models and sexuality but also in the songs. The original song “Kiss the Girl” is now “Ask the Girl“, and “Part of that World” is now “Where the Dicks Are”, when Ariel imagines what life might be out of the water.
Ursula is played by the impressive Shawna Hamic who owns the stage with her fabulous eight tentacled leather catsuit and knockout quiff, which grows in colour and stature as the show progresses. She is matched by her love interest Triton (Thomas Lowe), with his 80s shaggy hair and turquoise Lycra onesie.
Ariel is played by River Medway in a quiet and understated way, a fishy charming performance.
Ursula’s entourage a motley shoal of glittery harnessed performers who turn their hands to dancing, singing and puppetry, are on stage for nearly all of the show.
The story and the production is pantoesque in tone with innuendos, puns and impressive costume changes. The stand out performances for me were Allie Dart (give that girl a medal) and Julian Capolei, for their energy and versatility. They really gave the show they’re all playing so many different characters and quick costume changes. The fabulous costumes are by Abbey Clarke. She also designed the set and the puppets.
It was great to see a full house of not your regular theatre goers on a hot Tuesday evening. They were on their feet for the final number “I’m that witch “. So fishy and gay!