wonder.land - National Theatre (Olivier)
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
COMMISSIONED by Manchester International Festival (MIF), the National Theatre and the Théâtre du Châtelet, wonder.land is a new musical inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. With music by Damon Albarn and book and lyrics by Moira Buffini, it will be directed by Rufus Norris in a co-production with Manchester International Festival.
wonder.land will open at MIF with performances from July 2 to July 12, 2015 (previews from June 29) and in November it will come to the Olivier Theatre, where it is currently booking from the 27th. Then in June 2016, it will visit the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.
Welcome to wonder.land, where you can be exactly who you want to be. Aly, 12, loves this extraordinary virtual world. Bullied at school and unhappy at home, wonder.land offers an escape.
Online, Aly becomes Alice: brave, beautiful and in control. But some of the people she meets – the weird Dum and Dee, the creepy Cheshire Cat, the terrifying Red Queen – seem strangely familiar. And as hard as Aly tries to keep them apart, real life and wonder.land begin to collide in ever more curious and dangerous ways.
The cast includes Simon Anthony, Sam Archer, Carly Bawden, Lois Chimimba, Leon Cooke, Nadine Cox, Hal Fowler, Ivan De Freitas, Anna Francolini, Adrian Grove, Paul Hilton, Joshua Lacey, Daisy Maywood, Enyi Okoronkwo, Lisa Ritchie, Stephanie Rojas, Golda Rosheuvel, Cydney Uffindell-Phillips, Ed Wade and Witney White.
Damon Albarn is a Grammy and Brit Award-winning singer, songwriter, producer and composer. His first full-length opera composition, Monkey: Journey to the West, created in collaboration with Jamie Hewlett and Chen Shi Zheng, premiered at Manchester International Festival in 2007. His second opera Dr Dee, co-created with Rufus Norris, premiered at MIF in 2011.
Albarn has also written music for film soundtracks to 101 Reykjavik, Ravenous and Broken. Releases outside of Blur and Gorillaz also include: Mali Music, The Good The Bad and The Queen, Rocket Juice & The Moon, Africa Express Presents: Maison Des Jeunes and his Mercury-nominated debut solo album Everyday Robots.
Blur will release their new album, The Magic Whip, at the end of April and will headline the British Summer Time Festival in Hyde Park in June.
Moira Buffini’s plays include Welcome to Thebes and Dinner (National Theatre) and A Vampire Story (NT Connections); Handbagged (Tricycle and Vaudeville Theatres) – Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre); Dying For It, adapted from Nikolai Erdman’s The Suicide and Marianne Dreams, adapted from Catherine Storr’s book (Almeida Theatre); Loveplay (RSC); and Silence (Birmingham Rep) – Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.
Buffini’s screenplays include Tamara Drewe, Jane Eyre and Byzantium. She recently directed her first short film, Father.
Rufus Norris became Director of the National Theatre in April and his NT productions include Everyman, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, The Amen Corner, Table, London Road, Death and the King’s Horseman and Market Boy. His work elsewhere includes Feast, Vernon God Little and Tintin (Young Vic); the Olivier Award-winning Cabaret (West End and on tour); Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Broadway); Festen (Almeida Theatre, West End and New York; and Doctor Dee (Manchester Festival in 2011 and ENO in 2012).
Norris’ screen work includes Broken, which won the British Independent Film Award for Best Film, and the film of London Road which will be released in June.
wonder.land will have set designs by Rae Smith, with projections by 59 Productions, costumes by Katrina Lindsay, lighting by Paule Constable, sound by Paul Arditti and choreography by Javier De Frutos; the music supervisor is David Shrubsole and associate director, James Bonas.
Also in the Olivier Theatre: David Hare’s Behind the Beautiful Forevers (until May 5); Carol Ann Duffy’s adaptation of Everyman with Chiwetel Ejiofor in the title role (until August 30); Farquhar’s The Beaux’ Stratagem (previewing from May 19); and Timberlake Wertenbaker’s Our Country’s Good (August 19 to October 17, 2015.