Review: The Mermaid and the Cow, Edfringe  2022

theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, Haldane Theatre

In a comfy, cosy corner of theSpace at Surgeon’s Hall, sits a mermaid with a tale to tell. It’s an inviting friendly space where children ages 5+ are welcomed to not only hear a story but be an active part of it.

The Mermaid and the Cow is written and performed by Lindsey Cole, and is based upon a true story. Dressed in her full mermaid tail, she begins by explaining to her young audience about how she realised that the sea is becoming more and more polluted. When she cut herself on plastic whilst diving, she realised there was more of it around her than there were fish. To raise awareness of the problem she now swims rivers in her mermaid tail. This play is the story of how she swam the River Thames, saved a cow, and wrote a book about her adventure.

It’s a gentle but interactive storytelling session. Cole is warm and friendly, listening carefully to her small spectators, and inviting them to play roles in her show using a wide selection of props. She needs a mermaid, a cow, an otter, a frog and some humans and has costumes for them all. Beware though: adults are not exempt from joining in! The children have a lovely time dressing up and saying their lines on the small stage, and Cole is very sensitive to shyness and self-consciousness, so there’s no pressure: it’s all friends together. She narrates the tale from her colourfully illustrated book, encouraging the older children to also read from some of the pages, and assists the younger ones with some performance techniques.

In this delightful environment of collaboration she discreetly introduces facts about the plastic problem, weighing the waste in terms of frogs and cow pats. She engages the children beautifully in what is really a very important conversation, and empowers them to be a part of the clean-up going forward. By the end of the performance the audience is fully gathered around, wanting to know more about her book, which has to be a win/win scenario for environmentalism!

This is a lovely, gently educational story that would be highly suitable to classroom performances with a small number of pupils. Indeed, Cole explains that the idea for the book originally came from one of the schools she had visited. It’s really only the start of a series of tales, as she plans further adventures in the future, including to a glacier! Perhaps there’ll be a polar bear in the next show.

Written by Lindsey Cole

This show has now completed its EdFringe 2022 run. Check the artists website for future shows here.