The Singing Mermaid is a picture story book for youngsters written by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Lydia Monks. Here, Lizzie Wort of Little Angel Theatre picked up the book, and using the book's illustrations, narrated the story for us.
Starting with her own wee twist of trying to juggle for the circus, she easily engaged with her intended audience and her vocal and storytelling style was pitched just perfectly. The emphases and pauses all in the right places, building up the tension of the story quite expressively.
Mostly in rhyme, the story tells of a mermaid who just loves to sing, and her songs entertain the sealife around the bay in which she lives. One day a circus owner visits the bay and is enchanted by her singing, and offers to pay her lots of money and make her famous if she joins the circus. Despite her riends being against this, she accepts, and although she is famous and loved by all who come to watch her, she is not looked after properly, and she is sad and unhappy, longing to go back home again. A seagull devises a wily plan to set her free, and so, one day she makes good her escape and goes back to her home bay and lives happily ever after with the sea creatures again.
Hidden deep within the narrative are messages of not trusting strangers, being true to who you are, and loving and caring for your friends
We should all be a little more mermaid! A lovely tale for the wee ones, and expertly realised.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 16/7/20
No comments:
Post a Comment