Woods-Ray Theatricals Inc’s production of The Little Mermaid brings the timeless tale to life on stage, and some characters may warrant a double take. Photos: Adele Masters-Searle.
Disney’s The Little Mermaid was released in 1990, and when every other young female singer at the time wanted to play leading lady Ariel, a teenage Katrina Hannaford was intrigued by her antagonist.
“I was instantly drawn to Ursula. She’s so deliciously evil,” she says.
In 2009 she got her wish, portraying the villainous tentacled sea witch in a production at Monkey Baa Theatre Company in Sydney’s The Rocks.
Now, two years after relocating to the Illawarra after 45 years in Sydney, Katrina will once again don the Cecaelian costume for Woods-Ray Theatricals Inc’s 10th-anniversary production.
“There are very few roles I’d want to double up on – once done, I tend to put a character in a box and move on. But there’s something special about this show,” she says.
Being quite true to the Disney version of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic tale of the ill-fated siren, The Little Mermaid will never do for Ursula what stories like Maleficent and Wicked did for their respective villains. Still, this rendition does hint at the villain’s origin story, adding a layer of complexity Katrina feels more qualified to portray now, 16 years later.
“Last time I went in with a straight-up ‘I’m a Disney villain’ approach. This time, it’ll be ‘I’m a Disney villain, but …’,” she says. “Ursula, like us, all is layered and multi-dimensional, and I like this version more.”
Aside from the well-known (and quite catchy) Poor Unfortunate Souls, early on in the theatre adaptation of The Little Mermaid, Ursula sings Daddy’s Little Angel.
“It talks of Ursula being the seventh daughter. All her sisters – and her brother, who would one day become King Triton – were adored, while she was cast aside as ugly,” she says.
“She takes it upon herself to ‘unalive’ her sisters in the hopes that she might redirect the love she craves from her parents.
“Her childhood was shaped by rejection, feeling she’s the ‘other’, and while absolutely nothing justifies the terrible things she does, part of you might feel sorry for her, or at least see that there’s complexity there.”
The production is a special one for the entire cast and crew, as 2025 marks 10 years of Woods-Ray Theatricals Inc.
Founded in 2015 by Liam Woods, the Illawarra-based amateur musical society aims to bring a range of high-quality productions to the stage as well as enriching opportunities for local community members to perform or get involved in the arts.
“I was a young embittered creative who, along with some like-minded people around me, really wanted to speed run a start in theatre and get the chance to work on shows at a more creative level,” he says.
“Woods-Ray Theatricals became our theatrical outlet – a space to play around and put on our own shows, and it just kind of blew up from there.”
The Little Mermaid will be Woods-Ray Theatricals’ 22nd production. It will feature 21 local performers and a dazzling live orchestra with pit singers, performing music by eight-time Academy Award winner Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman and Glenn Slater. Audiences will hear all their favourites, including Under the Sea, Kiss the Girl and Part of Your World.
“I am in love with The Little Mermaid,” Liam says. ”It’s a show that didn’t go so well on Broadway, it closed early in its run, but over the years it has found new life in community theatre. The reason is it’s not only a beautiful story, but it’s also not so technical that a small theatre group can’t tackle it.
“It also has brilliant casting opportunities for creatives to sink their teeth into, and that was important to us for our 10th-anniversary show – we wanted to showcase as many local performers as possible for the occasion.
“Among them will be performers like Katrina, who have never done any shows with us before, to one cast member who was in our very first show back in 2015.”
The Little Mermaid takes place at Wollongong High School Performing Arts Centre from Thursday 24 to Sunday 27 April 2025, with matinee and evening performances across the weekend – book via Woods-Ray Theatricals.
