The Clarion West Write-a-thon started two days ago and so I thought I’d write about a performance/installation that I visited this week.

On Wednesday, I went to FramerFramed to see and imbibe of Maison the Faux’s installation/performance of The Tail. The installation will remain in FramerFramed up to the 17th of August, but if I understand correctly, the last live performance was yesterday.

Disney has taken Andersen’s tale and turned it into this romanticised fairytale, wiping it clean of all the things that have been labeled as not child-friendly and replacing the true ending with a fairytale (and more commercial) happy ending.

In Andersen’s tale, the Little Mermaid’s transformation comes at a great cost and with great suffering and (spoilers) unlike in the Disney Version, Andersen’s Little Mermaid doesn’t have a happy ending. There has been some discussion around whether the romantic version where the Little Mermaid sacrifices herself for true love by throwing herself into the waves and becoming the foam we see on the water is the ending that Andersen had in mind or whether he was made to rewrite a darker ending to one that would be more palatable as a fairytale.

I had to think about this because during the performance of The Tail, one of the personages repeats the line “do you want it darker” as a refrain to a song. If indeed you want it darker, there are darker possibilities to Andersen’s The Little Mermaid.

But The Tail is more than a retelling of Andersen’s The Little Mermaid. It goes way beyond that. It is an intensely immersive and engaging performance which made me think not just about the fairytale that inspired this installation. It made me think about the pressures that are put on queer and trans bodies to conform to an expectation. What does it mean to be in the body? What does it mean to embody and for the body to be grounded in the self? For whose sake do we transform when we choose to do so? I also like that there is no prince in this telling. It’s a great reminder that transformation isn’t to win the approval of anyone.

One of the aspects that I found effective as well as immersive was the way in which The Tail is presented. We (the audience) follow the personages from stage to stage. I thought this was a really good way of drawing in the audience and making them feel more part of rather than simply as bystanders watching. In a manner of speaking, the audience becomes a player too by becoming part of the world occupied by the three who are on the podium. One of the disadvantages of this though is how it makes it kind of challenging when you’re not as tall as most people.

At one part of the performance, the players enter an enclosed podium. I’m pretty short, so I couldn’t see a lot of what was going on when they were at the entrance. I tried raising my phone up high, but all I could get were the heads of people crowded around the door. So, I decided to distance myself a bit. (There’s something to reflect on doing that as well.) From the distance, I saw that the screens around this enclosed podium give those outside a view of what’s going on inside. The small circles around this enclosure were actually peepholes through which viewers can look and catch a glimpse of what’s going on in there. Reflecting on it, I rather liked this construction where the world outside can’t see all, as it felt to me like a silent narrative running alongside the narrative that is revealed to us.

As I sit here thinking about The Tail, I recognise how everything that was in place was done with intention. It’s this kind of intentionality that makes The Tail a joy to contemplate on.

Maison the Faux’s installation can still be viewed at FramerFramed up to the 17th of August. If you do get a chance to witness a live performance of this installation elsewhere, I highly recommend going because this review can’t capture the feeling of being there in the middle of it.

I hope you enjoyed reading this short reflection on this performance/installation. As I write this, the sun has just come out and I’m writing in its light. May your week be filled with light and joy and blessings always.