Bringing mermaid-core to the 2026 Edinburgh Fringe, Eleanor Morton talks to Pepper&Salt about her new show, The Mermaid, the Mermaid-Siren paradigm as well all things water deities, russalki and selkies.
How would you summarise your show?
It’s all about wanting to be a mermaid even though I hate swimming. I’ve got stickers this year so if you want your very own mermaid you’ll have to come along to the show!
How did you build this hour?
I used to write the jokes first and the show afterwards, in the fear that it needed to be funny first and foremost. Now I write the story of the show and the jokes sort of write themselves around it. I do a deep dive into what I’m interested in (in this case, mermaids and sea myths) and then work out how that links to other things I want to talk about like body image, school, relationships etc. I did literature at uni so there’s nothing I love more than finding a theme and presenting on it.
Do you have a particular moment from the show that’s your favourite or that you don’t mind sharing?
I’m using slides this year for the first time and I really love being able to show the audience exactly what I’m talking about. I think in the past I felt like I was cheating to use slides, but I really think they suit this show and add lots of visual gags I wouldn’t be able to include otherwise. There’s a Chat GPT rendering of a womb that is VERY eye opening.
In a hypothetical situation, if an audience member could only remember or take away one thing from this hour, what would you like it to be ?
That PT Barnum looked nothing like Hugh Jackman.
What are you looking forward to about the Fringe this year?
Lots of things! Seeing all my friends who don’t live in Edinburgh, seeing all the great shows, eating a Pablo Eggsgobao breakfast bun in George square, and trying to dress ‘mermaid core’ for the whole month.
What are some of the main ideas or themes that you explore in this hour?
It’s about femininity, myths about women hood, the female body, the deep sea, legends we tell ourselves, teenage hood, and the pressure as a woman to be beautiful at all times. It’s also about The Goofy Movie, James Cameron’s submarine and Shout magazine.
What inspired this show?
I love mermaids, and I know lots of other people do too, so I knew it would be straightforward to talk about them for an hour. I also wanted to see if I could do a show about sex (which is what it’s really about, spoilers) even though I hate talking about sex and am pretty prudish as a comic.
What particular aspect about mermaids do you analyse or were inspired by to write this show?
I wanted to look at how they appear across different myths and cultures, how they are connected with water deities and givers of life, why we still love them so much, and the reality of mermaids versus the fantasy. I also wanted to know why we think fish are so sexy – I think it’s because they’re wet a lot of the time.
”There isn’t really an inbetween for mermaids, like a standard mermaid on a random Tuesday. She’s either a saint or a monster.”
What is your favourite story or bit of folklore about mermaids?
The difference between the Disney film and Hans Christian Anderson’s story are really interesting. His is much more about Christianity and pain and basically, it’s a massive downer. Now we think of The Little Mermaid as fun and sexy, but really its a very depressing story, because The Notorious HCA was not a happy man. Also I found out that the sirens are not singing a sexy song of lust, but a song of forbidden knowledge.
What do you think is the difference between sirens and mermaids?
Well, a mermaid is a sea creature with the body of a woman and the tail of a fish. A siren is what makes the loud noise when an ambulance or a police car goes past.
Is there a joke or moment or thought that you had to leave out of the final hour that you wouldn’t mind sharing?
I had a joke about selkies, the mythical Scottish seal women of the sea, and how it’s very likely a sailor just fell in love with a seal and was too embarrassed to admit it, even though they are very sexy. When I visited Shetland years ago, all the seals were sunbathing on the shore outside Tesco, which was such a funny image to me. Even as seals, women be shopping.
Just for my own curiosity, would you say selkies count as mermaid?
Oooh, hmmm. They’re definitely in the same ballpark. They perform the same function which is to be beautiful and alluring to sailors. There’s so many sexy water ladies in so many different cultures – in Slavic culture you have the Rusalki, who perform the same role but are more like water ghosts. So I would say selkies are in the same venn diagram as mermaids, definitely.
Are there comparisons or parallels between the Mermaid- Siren paradigm and the Madonna-Whore paradigm, and if so what are they?
Yes there are! I talk about it quite a bit. Mermaids – and lots of mythical female creatures, actually – are presented as either these beautiful but demure, shy creatures, or else as blood thirsty big boobed man eaters. There isn’t really an inbetween for mermaids, like a standard mermaid on a random Tuesday. She’s either a saint or a monster. I think they really mirror how patriarchal cultures view women as dangerous and untrustworthy, especially when they seem glamorous or beautiful. You only have to look at the Victorian paintings of mermaids to see how much they were a stand-in for repressed desire. And there’s also a madonna/whore comparison between mermaids and sirens as these sexy alluring creatures, and female water deities and saints, which represent rebirth and purity. I went to a fascinating talk by Diana Purkiss about mermaids and her theory is that because in ancient medicine women are linked to cold wet humours we are associated with water and the moon. (And therefore tides and periods).
By Katerina Partolina Schwartz
Photo credit: Trudy Stade
Pepper & Salt 
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