‘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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