SATURDAY 16 AUGUST 2025 5pm & 7:30pm

Set on a stormy night in the depths of a raging housing crisis, this immersive, site-specific performance retells Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid as an exploitative love story between a merman and an estate agent. The audience are potential buyers and guided around the property by the estate agent.

“This all started as a short commission from Volcano Theatre in 2023 and I’ve been obsessed with ideas in the show ever since. The housing crisis affects so many of us. Current policies exclude huge parts of the population from a very basic need: access to somewhere affordable and decent to live. In our project we’re questioning the notion of property ownership in an absurd, playful way. Originally created within of Volcano’s Shape of Things to Come season in 2023, The Rising Damp and Other Tails has been developed with the support of Leeds Council and now returns to Swansea in a new iteration supported by Arts Council of Wales. Huge thanks to Leeds City Council and Volcano Theatre for supporting us.” Marianne Tuckman

Images and video by Marta Maluva.

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Direction: Marianne Tuckman

Devised by: Marianne Tuckman, Marco Gonzales, Nicolas San Martin, Francisco Petrucci

Partners: Shelter Cymru

Performance and Artistic Collaboration: Marco Gonazales, Megan Haines, Paul Davies

Sound Design: Francisco Petrucci

Light Design: Nicolás San Martín

Costume Design: Ailleen Klein

Poster Design: Lily Tiger Tonkin-Wells

Mermaid Tail Movement Training: Zoe Parker (Yorkshire Life Aquatic)

Artistic Mentoring: Fernanda Prata

Supported by Arts Council Wales