Saturday 12 March 2016

'wonder.land' National Theatre, Olivier ***

The National Theatre has been presenting some interesting and daring productions since Rufus Norris was handed the reigns as Director of the theatrical concrete jungle last year such as the collaborations with regional theatres, and a musical based on a re-invention two childhood classic novel that has mixed the virtual world with the real world is quite a fresh and innovative idea. The National Theatre’s production of Damon Albarn, Moira Buffini and Rufus Norris’ musical, ‘wonder.land’ was a knee-slapper of a show where the weird and wonderful are put together, in addition to this, the representations were great all round.

‘wonder.land’ which is inspired by Lewis Carroll’s novels, ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and ‘Through the Looking-Glass’ is situated in London and a virtual world that is called, ‘wonder.land’ where we are introduced to schoolgirl, Aly who is a lonely person as she does not have any loyal friends at school whatsoever. Her mother, Bianca (Golda Rosheuvel) is concerned for her daughter’s welfare as she has spent to entire weekend inside the house and playing games on her phone, however, due to an altercation where her mother and father, Matt (Paul Hilton) who are going through a messy separation at the supermarket it appears to have taken its toll on Aly. Due to this situation, she posts something with the hope that she may seek some comfort and positivity from people at school; on the other hand, this does not go according to plan as she is taunted relentlessly over this and may other things. Aly comes across an app called ‘wonder.land’ and the MC who becomes the Cheshire Cat welcomes her to the game and Aly then decides on the avatar and for her she creates an attractive and skinny version who she names, Alice (Carly Bawden) and strangely enough the two form a bond. Over the course of the performance, in Aly and Alice’s quest to find the White Rabbit (Joshua Lacey), they come into contact with other avatars who are being controlled by other players, each of who are facing their own battles and difficulties and these are brothers, Dum (Sam Archer) and Dee (Leon Cooke), Humpty (Daisy Maywood), Dodo (Ivan De Freitas), Mouse (Ed Wade) and Mock Turtle (Cydney Uffindell-Phillips) and in the process of the game they all form a kind of friendship amongst it all. At school, Aly’s headmistress, Ms Manxome who is quite a force of nature and scarily crazed woman is notified about the fact that Aly has been using her phone in class by Aly’s teacher, Mr King (Adrian Grove) as she’s been distracted by ‘wonder.land’, Ms Manxome then confiscates her phone.  Intrigued by the game, she then decides to use Aly’s account and remodel Alice into a ghastly character that is rude to the other avatars and forces them into some form of exile. Aly is determined to regain control of Alice as her account is at the point of being shut down as Ms Manxome is breaking the terms and conditions of the game. During the production, Aly and her classmate, Luke Laprel, another bullied teenager joins forces with Aly through another game to prevent Ms Manxome from destroying her enjoyment and from upsetting the other players in the game whose avatars have been captured. When Aly breaks into Ms Manxome’s office to be re-acquainted with her phone, Ms Manxome then attacks her and with the help from her parents and Luke she is forced to stop and as such; she is then taken away by the police and charged with assault. At the finale, Aly apologises to the other ‘wonder.land’ gamers and decides to close down her account and move on with something else, as well as, her mother and father re-kindle their marriage and Aly and Luke’s friendships moves on from strength to strength. Buffini’s narrative is appealing as the whole concept is very quirky, but with some flaws in the plot which are immensely miniscule we can see how technology is overtaking everything and using Carroll’s books as a base for this is frankly imaginative and with her lyrics and Albarn’s music such musical numbers like, “Who’s Ruining Your Life?”, “I’m Right”, “Fabulous” and “wonder.land” they frame how the musical is going to progress. 

One found the performances by the company of, ‘wonder.land’ to be pleasantly alluring as the vocals were polished and the movement arrangements had an air of a childlike and computer/phone game quality about them such as when the White Rabbit makes his appearance. Lois Chimimba is splendid as troubled teen, Aly; especially how we can see how her parent’s quarrels and bullying are impacting on her life, but when ‘wonder.land’ enters her life she begins to cheer up as she forms new friendships and her moments with Alice and Luke increase her advancement and happiness. Hal Fowler is great as the MC/ Cheshire Cat and Caterpillar; largely how powerfully commanding he is as he has the responsibility to narrate the proceedings with a chilling and enchanting manner just like the Cheshire Cat and Caterpillar is in the novel and the many films, as well as, the voice boomed through the auditorium.  Anna Francolini is positively fascinating as the petrifyingly bloodcurdling, Ms Manxome; principally how engaged and fixated she becomes with ‘wonder.land’ as we learn how secluded she feels which is why she uses Alice as a form of a revenge strategy where she be the ultimate ruler of the fictional land and we can deifnately see the Queen of Hearts resonating there. Enyi Okoronkwo is courteous as hapless schoolboy, Luke;  particularly where we see him finding the courage to come out to Aly as gay and he seems to feel that with Aly speaking to him as she needs his help to prevent Ms Manxome he can begin to stop putting himself down and stand up to the bully, Kieran. 

Rufus Norris’ direction is excessive here as he has been able to transport us into two worlds, one real and one fully fictitious and how gamers can work together in bringing down someone who wants to destroy the value of the game as a source of comfort, in addition to this, Javier De Frutos’ choreography was quite kooky and hilariously manoeuvred. Rea Smith’s set design, Katrina Lindsay’s costume designs and projections by 59 Productions were awe-inspiring as we are able to be absorbed into ‘wonder.land’ and how the costumes vibrated the characters that are so renowned in the other forms of media and projections completed this to the full. Overall, the experience of, ‘wonder.land’ was one that has enabled us to see the changes of how musicals have been achieved and despite the glitches in some elements, the show was still pleasurable.

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