The Little Mermaid Jr

Leaving aside the obvious pride and adulation of the parents in the stalls (clearly the target audience), there are still some worthy things about this very ambitious production; the brilliant colours, director Callum’s vision for “under the Sea”; the little roller skate wheels in the heels of shoes so that it seemed the fish were gliding through water, and the fact that all the music is pre-recorded as part of the package, so we had lush orchestrations with strings rather than something less palatable.

Ruby Voss is an exceptional Ariel, endearing and wilful. She hasn’t matured vocally yet, but otherwise the performance was far beyond her years and experience. Matching her, and with great rapport, is Madison Jerram as Sebastian, The Crab. Miss Jerram has a marvellous sense of comic timing, and managed to get every possible laugh out of the script. I couldn’t help thinking that, if she can also dance, she’d make a terrific Tracey Turnblad in Hairspray. Full marks to Jaz Harwood, one of the younger members of the company, for her infectious interpretation of Flounder – plus I could hear every single word that she said, and that’s a bonus. In smaller roles Madeleine Stacey is impressive as the chef, in particular, and Alexia Frasca as Alana, one of Ariel’s sisters, managed to make a Lady Ga-Ga like impression with her attitude and reactions, despite having few lines. The rest of the cast work hard and will no doubt improve during the run and gain a lot from the experience. It’s a pity though that the simplest dance moves can’t work if you have an ensemble that cannot walk in time to music, and there really needs to be work done with some of the principals on speaking their lines AT THE SAME TIME as walking, to avoid some stage waits which make it seem like young actors have forgotten their cues.

Callum Hosking, director and founder of Kidzact, is keeping his dream alive, and a great dream it is. I do think though, that perhaps more imaginative thinking is required in the staging. The set is spectacular, on trucks, and the scenes change every 2-3 minutes. The problem is that it takes a total of eight stage crew up to 30 seconds to move the set into place or strike it. This does break up the continuity of the story-telling and leads to painful stage waits. Something a little more tech and less cumbersome – like projection onto a scrim from a laptop computer – would have been much simpler and more effective, and cost considerably less. The lighting and sound plots were both excellent in design, but poorly executed….no doubt (I hope) to first night nerve-driven glitches. But above all, Kidzact is giving young, would-be, performers a platform, a taste of something they would otherwise never have. And their parents have every right to be proud.

Coral Drouyn