‘Allergic to Water’ dives into chronic illness with laughs

A new play explores the struggle with chronic illness in a fantastical way; introducing Melusine, a mermaid who has been transformed into a human, and finds herself allergic to water?

Allergic to Water is billed as an interactive dark comedy by Jacqueline Russell, co-presented by Wee Witches and Inside Out Theatre. The show runs Nov. 5–8 at the Victor Mitchell Theatre in Pumphouse Theatre, blending live music, clown, and surreal storytelling into a 75-minute splash of absurdity and empathy.

“Allergic to Water is the story of the world’s most famous mermaid. She’s a mermaid trapped in a human body on a quest to try and get her tail back,” says Russell. “There’s music, there’s physical comedy. It’s a rockin’ good 75 minutes.”

Russell first met her aquatic alter-ego 15 years ago during One Yellow Rabbit’s performance lab, but the character resurfaced when she began exploring her own experience with invisible illness.

“It’s a really great metaphor for what it feels like to have an internal experience that isn’t always visible,” she explains. “When you’re experiencing fatigue or pain and people say, ‘You look great,’ and you think, ‘Well thank you, I feel terrible.’ Your insides don’t match your outsides — just like the mermaid.”

Using parody, music by Jeremy Gignoux, and moments of playful audience interaction, Allergic to Water gives physical form to something most people never see.

“People can stay at home and feel real things,” Russell laughs. “What I love about this show is that there’s a conversation with the audience — a collective experience of joy and laughter and catharsis.”

Each performance invites the crowd into Melusine’s world. There’s a “true-or-false” mermaid mythology quiz, live music from Gignoux as a wise-cracking albatross, and even a moment where the mermaid brews a potion from the audience’s whispered confessions.

“Melusine makes brew for the audience by grinding up secrets and creating a little magical spell for them,” says Russell. “All of the interaction is consensual, but that liminal space where anything can happen makes every show different.”

At its heart, the piece asks what it means to be believed particularly when pain can’t be seen. Through laughter, the show surfaces something serious.

“If you love mermaids, if you love music, if you love comedy, if you have an invisible illness — or you know someone who does — this is a 75-minute show that will give you all those things.”

Ticket information at here.