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INTERVIEW: Spotlight On… Alice in Winterland’s Daniel Goode

In Features, Interviews, London theatre, Plays by Emma ClarendonLeave a Comment

‘We’re still rehearsing at the moment so there are bits I haven’t seen and bits we’ve yet to work on, but there is something wonderful about seeing a theatre space so populated – this is very rare these days – so the mixture of professional actors and an exuberant youth theatre is one of my favourite elements of this show.’

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Press pass revisited: Has wonder.land improved since its Manchester premiere?

In Features, London theatre, Musicals, Opinion, Reviews by Terri PaddockLeave a Comment

When wonder.land premiered at the Manchester International Festival in July, reviews were decidedly mixed. National press who made the trip north were underwhelmed, bestowing a raft of three-star ratings, while local critics were kinder, bumping it up to a four-star show. In the intervening months, rumour has it, there’s been extensive redevelopment of this digital-age […]

Press pass: Everything you need to know about Damon Albarn’s wonder.land

In Features, London theatre, News, Opinion by Terri PaddockLeave a Comment

Is it all a Blur? That’s a pun you may hear frequently in relation to the musical theatre debut of the seminal 1990s band’s frontman, Damon Albarn, which opened in Manchester last night. wonder.land is Albarn’s digital-age take on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the Lewis Carroll children’s classic celebrating its 150th anniversary this year.

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WONDER.LAND – Manchester & London

In Manchester, Musicals, Regional theatre, Reviews, Touring by Kristy StottLeave a Comment

Wonder.land is a brand new musical, directed by Rufus Norris, that is being performed as part of the Manchester International Festival. Taking its inspiration from Lewis Carroll’s classic novel Alice in Wonderland, the new musical tells the story of Aly, a young teen who battles with bullies at school and struggles to find happiness at home with her mother and baby brother ‘cabbage pants’ Charlie. Aly is unable to look to her father for support either, as although he loves her dearly, he is addicted to online gambling.

WONDER.LAND – Manchester & London

In Musicals, Regional theatre, Reviews by Libby PurvesLeave a Comment

Fifty minutes in, we got a 30ft yodelling falsetto caterpillar with flashing saucer eyes, and I cheered up. It also, as it happens, sang the central message of Damon Albarn’s musical, centrepiece of the Manchester International Festival in partnership with the National Theatre ( Rufus Norris himself directs). The message is “Who are you?”, ‘cos it’s all about teenage self-realisation in the age of broken homes and feral schools under the cosh of Goveian superheads. This necessitates a girl’s escape down the rabbit-hole of the smartphone, to become a braver avatar of herself.