Review: Unfortunate – The Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch

Written to shock and celebrate, new musical Unfortunate is proudly rewriting the story of The Little Mermaid to serve the queer community.

The premise of the production stems from Disney's treatment of Ursula the sea witch in its 1989 film The Little Mermaid, where the company refused to admit that they had based the character on Divine – a bold drag queen adorned with blue eyeshadow and a white quiff. Rather than using this as a chance to celebrate the performer, it was as though they were making fun of her work, adding to the number of queer-presenting villains in Disney films.

Despite centrally following a heterosexual relationship between Ursula and Prince Triston, the musical is extremely camp, featuring a number of puns about genetalia that might not be suitable for students. Directed by Robin Grant, who played the lead in the show's original production, Ursula (Shawna Hamic) and Triston (Thomas Lowe) are hilarious.

The plot focuses on Ursula's unjust framing, her subsequent banishment, and a surprising twist revealing that her supposed plot to abscond with Ariel's voice served as an essential lesson in mermaid autonomy for the unsuspecting Ariel.

Having plunged into success from the Edinburgh Fringe, the acclaimed musical parody still retains some of its slap-dash fringe energy. The backbone of the show must be Allie Dart – a chorus member who multi-roles so many characters that I lost count, hopping between accents and costumes with rapid consistency.

One disappointing element comes from the airheaded Ariel herself, played by River Medway of RuPaul's Drag Race UK fame. With such a strong cast elsewhere, Ariel's performance feels like a lacklustre afterthought, and a casting choice that was done on name rather than merit.

This is not enough to dampen the production though (no pun intended). With Ursula being hiked up onto a kitschy floating mirror ball, and other cast members flying around with harnesses, the show really puts everything it can onto the stage. It is hilariously witty, and thoroughly enjoyable if you go in with an open mind.

More like a panto for adults than a cabaret, its hits (written by Tim Gilvin) include a track called ‘We Didn't Make It To Disney’ that seemed to be a crowd pleaser. Sometimes it can be thrilling to watch a show that doesn't take itself so seriously. If you fancy attending a nautical themed queer party, then this will be right up your street.

The production advises that only those over the age of 16 should see it, so I'd only recommend this for sixth form students and upwards.

unfortunatemusical.com