BE PREPARED FOR A MERMAID STORM

BE PREPARED to witness a world premiere water-theatre spectacular this weekend, as local award-winning Big Telly Theatre Company presents Hans Christian Andersen's original well-loved fairytale The Little Mermaid in Coleraine Leisure Centre swimming pool, as part of Festival Fever 2005.

Spectacle, magical lighting, visual effects, and music will re-tell the heart-warming story of The Little Mermaid's first visit to the surface in the world's first theatre performance in water. Highlights of this unique performance include a raging storm that shipwrecks the Prince, a dramatic encounter with a Sea Witch and the beautiful mermaids' ball.

The Little Mermaid will be the most visually spectacular theatre production to be attempted in water and will reflect Big Telly's originality, for which it has become renowned. Years of development and months of preparation has seen the incredible challenge of producing a theatre performance in water become a reality. The impressive cast and a wonderfully imaginative set combined with mystical lighting, beautifully decorative specially designed costumes for the water, carnival style masks and dancing starfish puppets, add to the spectacular effects achieved both above and below the water to create a magnificently unique performance.

Big Telly's charming production of The Little Mermaid, opens at Coleraine Leisure Centre today until 4 June as the flagship event for Coleraine Borough Council's Festival Fever, before embarking on an international tour during the summer. The production has proved so popular, it has been invited to attend Galway Arts Festival 2005, Taipei Children's Festival 2005, Taiwan, the Hans Christian Andersen Bicentenary Anniversary Festival in Denmark, Shanghai International Arts Festival 2005, China, and Toronto Arts Festival 2006, Canada. The Little Mermaid project also coincides with the Year of the Sea 2005 celebrations.

Zoë Seaton, Artistic Director and Co-founder of Big Telly Theatre Company said, "I have been lucky enough to direct several site-specific productions in England over the last ten years. Inspiration for The Little Mermaid probably began when working with floating candlelit barges and magical creatures that walked on water.” Zoë and Paul Boyd, creators of the production, are delighted to see the vision for the Little Mermaid project becoming a reality. "We are extremely excited about the prospects for The Little Mermaid and hope that children and the young at heart, from every walk of life, will enjoy this unique adaptation of the famous story. Developing the performances in swimming pools is a challenge, but with valuable support from synchronised swimming experts, we are able to create a production with a completely new approach,” Zoë said.

Local primary and secondary pupils and Special Olympics Ireland members have had the opportunity to explore set design, mask making, the logistics of sinking and raising a shipwreck, and the skills of directing a show of this scale during interactive workshops with the impressive Little Mermaid creative team.

Big Telly's plans are opening new doors for the world of theatre, embarking on new concepts, encouraging accessibility for everyone. Young at Art, Island Arts Centre, Lisburn City Council, Coleraine Borough Council, and Omagh District Council are confident that the spectacle of carnival-style theatre in water could bring a whole new dimension to the accessibility of theatre to young and old alike.