Music & Lyrics: Joshua McNutt & Rachel Thornton
Director: Rachel Thornton
Sometime in the future, at the Basket Island Music Festival, the Real Human Girlz tribute band is performing. During their performance, they decide to give a history of the band. In this witty and charming new musical from Trip Hazard Theatre, we follow the story of the original band’s meteoric rise to fame and the complex relationship between them and the human world that they want to entertain, while they also hope that their male listeners resist the lure of the ocean when they sing.
This performance is a rehearsed reading of the script so the stage is set through the stage directions being read by a member of the technical team. We open with a sound clip about the popularity of the band. When the band enters the stage, it starts into the incredibly catchy ‘Dance Until We Drown’, an upbeat song that reminds listeners that it’s a metaphor and to please not actually drown yourself. This song excellently sets the tone for the show and hooks the audience, metaphorically of course.
The music throughout runs a full spectrum from poppy and upbeat to sad and melancholic. Each song fits where it’s supposed to beautifully and accentuates the scene it’s situated in. Some stick out more than others such as the beautiful duet ‘The Duet (Scared of Everything)’ and they stick with you as all good music should.
A superbly talented 4 person cast: Emer Nic Róibín (Muireann), Charlotte Cleary (Annalee), Eva McCartney (Elody) and Joshua McNutt (Donnacha) are delightful, whimsical and just the right amount of broody when it’s called for. Mermaids Have No Tears has wonderful potential and a bright future ahead.
Reviewed 26th February 2026.
