A CLASSIC fairy tale will be re-interpreted when scores of children from Romsey take part in a production over the course of this weekend.

Hans Christian Anderson’s much-loved story of The Little Mermaid will be turned into a physical theatre production for Mountbatten School’s annual show.

Sixty-five children will be lighting up the stage with their performance while other budding theatre types will be involved in the lighting, sound, set design and costume departments.

Parents and friends of the children are epxected to pile into the Whitenap Lane school’s Mountbatten Theatre on Thursday to watch the opening night of the show which runs until Saturday.

Set in the modern day, the story explores the pressure on teenagers to grow up quickly and abandon play, becoming preoccupied by appearance, judging one another and seeing one another as competitors.

A teenager called Blue is the centre of the story which she starts to bring to life inside her bedroom, reinventing the original fairytale.

She plunges into the mermaid world as an escape from her present, and her version is shaped and influenced by her thoughts and feelings.

Audiences will see two different groups playing the parts over alternate nights with Ria Hanley and Lucy Loch sharing the role of Blue, while Lizzy Gilmour and Eve Ibbott both taking on the part of the Little Mermaid.

Ayomitide Aleshinloye, also known as Tide, and Owen Boston play Prince with other children aged 11 to 16 taking on the chorus.

Head of drama, Faye Gould said “it’s a different and experimental school play” allowing the children to try something now normally seen.

“The premise is that her inner story is acted out through the Little Mermaid. She becomes the princess who gives up her true identity. She goes back into the water. She just wants to be her true self.”

Tide, 15, from Maybush, Southampton, said he was “quietly confident” about his performance.

He said: “I just tried to understand the role and get into the mentality of the role. It’s helped me to develop as an actor, I’ve developed so much and I’ve had a great experience of working in this role.”

Lucy, 14, from Upper Shirley, said: “This is the first production that I’ve done at Mountbatten. It’s been tough to get my head around the lines. There’s a lot of things going on.”

Eve, 14, from Halterworth, said: “I’m nervous but excited. I think I like all of it. I didn’t think I was going to get the part.”

Head of school Chris Cox said: “The whole school looks forward to production week. There is a special atmosphere all week. This year our fantastic expressive arts faculty have chosen a really challenging play.

“Rehearsals have gone really well and we can’t wait to see the shows later this week.”

Showtimes are Thursday, Friday and Saturday (February 4, 5 and 6) 7.30pm with a matinee tomorrow (Saturday) at 1.30pm.

Tickets (adults £8, concessions £6) can be purchased from the finance office at The Mountbatten School.