Once On This Island

Synopsis

A captivating legend of romance between a peasant girl and a rich city boy who she saves from death. The calypso-flavoured re-telling of the The Little Mermaid opens on a Caribbean island where villagers comfort a little girl with the story of the orphan Ti Moune, destined to love too much for the human heart to bear. Once On This Island delivers melody, love and joy in tropical abundance. Based on the novel My Love, My Love by Rosa Guy.

Our Review:

Theo Bosanquet - 29 July 2009

Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty's Olivier award-winning musical Once on this Island - here revived in a co-production with Birmingham Rep and Nottingham Playhouse - is a joyous, if not exactly narratively satisfying affair.

A Caribbean-set play-within-a-play version of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid, it centres on Ti Moune, a young peasant girl who sets out the win the heart of Grande Homme Daniel Beauxhomme, but who inevitably smacks into the barriers of racism and snobbery.

The story is puppeteered by a collection of gods, from the Demon of Death Papa Ge (played with suitable pantomimic menace by Jo Servi) to the lovable Mother Earth Asaka, a role Sharon D Clarke first played during its award-winning 1994 run and slips back into with ease.

Directed by Hackney Empire associate (and pantomime queen – or should that be dame?) Susie McKenna, this is a welcome revival, even though it proves remarkably ...

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Latest User Review

Aidan - 14 June 2011:

Superb! I fell in love with it when my school did it in '10! Great performance and acting!...

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