EDINBURGH 2016: BWW Q&A - Pond Wife

We speak to Holly Norrington and Teddy Lamb about their Edinburgh Fringe 2016 show Pond Wife.

Tell us a bit about Pond Wife

Our show Pond Wife is a reimagining of Hans Christian Anderson's classic fairy tale The Little Mermaid. We use glitter, terrible dance routines, your favourite 90s pop hits and the most versatile bathtub you've ever seen on stage!

What inspired the show?

Our inspiration comes from a variety of different sources. Initially we wanted to create a strong female character in a fairy tale, and so we set ourselves the challenge of making 'a mermaid who sacrifices her voice for a man she's never met' into a feminist icon who champions sisterhood and achieving her own dreams.

We made the show in a room above Holly's garage, and before we used it, it was basically a storeroom, so we found all Holly's old CDs - Steps, Britney, TLC etc. - and eventually they made their way into our devising process too!

We take inspiration from the wide range of performance we see too, from Contemporary Theatre to pop concerts and cabaret/drag (Ted recently dramaturged for Alfie Ordinary on his award-winning debut show). Pond Wife uses elements and techniques from all these genres.

How was the show created?

Pond Wife is our debut show as a company, but we're constantly developing and refining our process. We tend to start out by doing a lot of research (in this case on fairy tales, mermaids and the female role in literature) and then once we've read and absorbed all this, we throw it away and see what bits stuck. Recently we've been watching a hell of a lot of Britney and experimented with so much lip syncing and choreography, which isn't where we thought we'd end up after all that research!

Which 90's gems can we expect to hear?

We have a pretty amazing playlist, including classic Britney, All Saints and TLC, and you may even recognise some classics from your favourite 90s TV shows!

What's next for Pond Wife after the Fringe?

We aim to use our experience at the Fringe to provide a platform to create our next show, which we can't wait to get cracking with! We'd love to take our new show on a rural tour and provide fun and feminist Contemporary Theatre to audiences outside of the big cities.

Timings and ticket information for Pond Wife are available on the edfringe website.

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