Tall Tails opens Monday 19th October at the Golden Goose Theatre, bringing mermaids to London in this joyful production. Learn more about you can expect:
1: What sparked the initial idea for the show?
The initial spark of the idea was the universal pain and dysfunction of over-functioning we all personally related to. The constant over-thinking, mind-reading, emotional anticipating, and walking on egg shells in fear of hurting someone’s feelings or Cod forbid, to be outspoken or rude. We were five girlfriends living in London (Nikola Carouso, Emma Kowalchuk, Brianna Price, Alexa Stevens, Holly Taylor) transplanted from the US for various reasons, and formed a creatively explosive, synergistic bond riddled with fear of pushing each other away. We found the humor in it and wanted to poke fun at ourselves and female friendships at large; the emotional, complicated, passionate, deeply rewarding albeit messy they can be. The context of the friends as mermaids was apparent, a group of women submerged in their own thoughts and feelings much like a body of water. We loved the additional symbolism mermaids represented as mysterious, objectified, surface-level creatures and wanted to play into the feminist subtext of that as well. But also, who doesn’t love mermaids? – Nikola Carouso
2: How did you develop the four mermaids to be individuals?
The mermaids each have their own quirks and anxieties. We drew upon our own experiences as recovering people pleasers, and brought those qualities into a heightened, mythological world. It’s really important to us that each of the mermaids has their own distinct relationship to people pleasing, and to each other. We’re super inspired by Sex and the City and Girls because they show the intricate dynamics between four best friends. We’d love for people to watch Tall Tails and think, “I’m a Crabola, and my best friend is such a Pearl”. -Emma Kowalchuk
3: What role does nostalgia play within the show?
Nostalgia seeped into the show through our common ground as friends. Childhood whimsy is a big theme in our friendship– we often end rehearsals with a trip to our favorite ice cream shop, or watching old music videos. We can all remember playing mermaids as kids, so even though we’re looking at quite serious themes of self-doubt and patriarchal oppression, we lead with a playful, feminine tone. Visually, we’re channeling a mid-2000s aesthetic with sparkly makeup and one-of-a-kind costumes hand sewn by our genius co-writer and producer, Nikola Carouso. We’re saying something serious while playing the coolest game of dress up ever. -Emma Kowalchuk
4: What do you hope audiences take away from the production?
First of all, we wanna make you laugh. We hope that watching Tall Tails feels like staying up late at a sleepover, giggling and spilling secrets with your best friends. But beyond all the sparkles and fish puns, we hope audiences will resonate with the painful cycle of people pleasing. We believe that everyone falls somewhere along a spectrum of people pleaser, and women experience compounded pressure in a patriarchal world. By centering women in a story about the male gaze, we hope to break the cycles that perpetuate our people pleasing, over-apologizing, and fear of sticking up for ourselves. -Emma Kowalchuk
5: How have the performers shaped their own characters?
The performers have each shaped their characters in deeply personal ways, reflecting on their own people-pleasing tendencies and allowing those experiences to inform their performances. Each of them has taken a particular people-pleasing quality and really deep dived (pun intended) in the exploration of it, finding ways to examine those relatable tendencies while bringing a sense of whimsy and playfulness to them.
They’ve also each brought their own childlike wonder to their characters. Every performer has a wonderfully silly side, as does their character, and it’s been so much fun to see those two sides come together. Watching each performer find the overlap between themselves and their character has been a really special part of the process. -Alexa Stevens
6: What has been the most enjoyable part about creating Tall Tails?
The most enjoyable part of making Tall Tails has been taking a creature like the mermaid—so prominent and beloved in our childhoods—and reimagining her in a way that feels relatable to an adult perspective, like making her a people pleaser. It’s been so much fun to play, experiment, and collaborate with such dear friends in so many different ways, all within this aquatic world we’ve created together. -Alexa Stevens
Tall Tails opens Monday 19th October at the Golden Goose Theatre. Many thanks to Emma, Nikola and Alexa for answering our questions. Book your tickets here!
Max
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