A fairy tale with fire

LISA Howard remembers reading Hans Christian Andersen's story of The Little Mermaid as a young girl and being horrified, saddened and a little disappointed that the heroine doesn't end up with the handsome prince.

The story taught her that there wasn't always a happy ending, although the animated Disney version provided one. "You find that when you're doing fairy stories, people think Disney is the Bible," says the actress. "In that Little Mermaid, she has her voice taken away, then is given it back and marries the prince."

Mike Kenny's new adaptation at York Theatre Royal is more faithful to the original, in which the mermaid has her tongue cut out and doesn't end up with the prince.

Hopefully, this won't result in the same reaction as has happened to Howard in previous stage productions of fairy stories. She recalls one performance at which a child threw up when a character had their toes cut off, and another at which a child fainted.

"The production of The Little Mermaid does use humour a lot. Above all, it will be funny and not so horrifying," she adds, perhaps worried she's giving the impression the production resembles a Hammer horror.

The Cumbria-born actress has done a lot of children's theatre, most notably at West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, with roles in two big Christmas shows, Wind In The Willows and The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, as well as a multi-media staging of The Wizard Of Oz.

The grand scale of those contrasts with The Little Mermaid, a co-production with London's Polka Theatre. This is being presented with a cast of two in the intimate, 100-seat Studio Theatre.

She and Robin Simpson are playing the storytellers, Flotsam and Jetsam, and the other characters in the story. "The narrators are characters in their own right and have their own relationship. I also play the Little Mermaid when needed," she says.

"At the Playhouse, the shows have been ones where the set gets the reviews, not the actors," says Howard. "So it's lovely to be part of something like The Little Mermaid."

As good witch Glindor in The Wizard Of Oz, she was flown on stage in a bubble. "It was interesting to do but in The Little Mermaid we have to use ourselves as actors. We create the illusion of swimming. It's about real acting," she says.

Her other work for younger audiences includes Grimm Tales in an open air staging at the Duke's Theatre, Lancaster. In Hansel And Gretel, she played both stepmother and witch - the character was sewn into an outfit made from the skin of the children she'd captured.

She comes to The Little Mermaid from the Theatre Royal production of Macbeth. "I was pleased to do that to get some adult stuff on my CV. It's not deliberate that I've done a lot of children's stories on stage. Much is to do with multi-character playing and one of my first jobs was puppet theatre so I get asked to do that too."

Her interest in acting grew during her childhood in Kendal, where a professional theatre company was based at the Brewery Arts Centre. "I joined the youth theatre at 13 and spent all my time there. Although it was out in the sticks, theatre was part of my daily life," she says.

She went to drama school - E15 in London - but has worked almost exclusively in the North. When The Little Mermaid transfers to Polka's base in London, it will be her first professional job in the capital.

There are plans to tour the show to Japan. So far, most of her theatre-inspired travelling has been done on tours to India, America and Norway. Howard also spent two years in Egypt as a singer. With acting work in short supply, she began singing in a hotel after seeing a small ad in showbiz newspaper The Stage. A six-week job lasted two years.

Her singing voice will come in handy as the Little Mermaid. "She has an amazingly beautiful voice that people fall in love with," she says.

l The Little Mermaid plays daytime performances in The Studio at York Theatre Royal from Friday to July 2. Tickets: (01904) 623568.

Published: 04/06/2005