Alice: An Adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland (Oberon Modern Plays)

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Carroll’s story has always been understood as more than just an imaginative and amusing children’s story, but this rendering takes its serious side to a new level, interpreting Alice’s journey as a psychotherapeutic escape from a very real tragedy. Its a clever way to understand Carroll’s exploration of the human psyche, combining the dark with the ridiculous with finesse, and it stays close enough to Carroll’s much-loved jokes and characters to keep loyal fans happy. Teenagers, in particular, will likely appreciate this version, especially if they happen to be going through a tough time (and which teenager isn’t?). The White Rabbit is late for the Duchess. The Cheshire Cat wont stop grinning. And the Hatter is, well, mad. In the middle of it all is Alice, a young girl with a vivid imagination and a family life thats less than perfect. In 2010, two new plays by Laura Wade made their premiere: Alice, a reworking of Alice in Wonderland, was staged at the Sheffield Crucible; and Posh opened to critical acclaim at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court Theatre in April. An updated script of Posh opened at the Duke of York's Theatre on May 11, 2012, marking Wade's West End debut. The play received its regional debut in February 2015 in a co-production by Nottingham Playhouse and Salisbury Playhouse, and was adapted to film (Lone Scherfig's The Riot Club). Alice is a new adaptation of Carroll’s story, by Yorkshire playwright Laura Wade, here performed by the Gobo Theatre Foundation. The foundation is a charity as well as a theatre group, operating a “fair paid is fair played” ethos to give acting opportunities as well as financial and career management advice to budding 16-25 year old actors. This is a rare helping hand in an industry whose cut throat competitiveness, combined with the recent evaporation of government support, is threatening the cultivation of future dramatic talent in this country. American premiere, produced by Luna Theater Company at Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, January 2010

Did having your own children while writing it influence the plot or the message? During the six years we were developing the show, Tamara [Harvey, the director], Katherine [Parkinson, who plays the lead role] and I had two children each, but we never ended up giving the couple in the play children because it felt like a purer decision for them to live the 50s if they didn’t have them. The idea of being a stay-at-home mum seemed more socially acceptable than a woman leaving her job to be a housewife and look after her husband. Certainly this is a play of two halves with the second far exceeding the first as its young cast grew in confidence. Theatre review: Colder Than Here at Soho Theatre". Britishtheatreguide.info . Retrieved 26 November 2016.On 4 July 2018, Wade's play Home, I'm Darling premiered at Theatr Clwyd. It was directed by Tamara Harvey, and starred Katherine Parkinson. [13] The play transferred to the National Theatre for a summer 2018 run, [14] to the Duke of York's Theatre in January 2019, [15] and later won Best Comedy at the 2019 Laurence Olivier Awards. [16] Tribes have always been interesting to me, and the vintage tribe – people who feel they are born in a time they don’t belong in – seemed like a really good canvas to talk about lots of issues around marriage and domesticity. Alice is updated, from Victorian hairband-sporting dreamer, to a modern day teenager whose elder brother has just died in a car crash. The play opens with the funeral reception, in which a bewildered Alice staggers amongst an assorted array of emotionally absent parents, interfering school teachers and well-meaning relatives. As the clichés fly, the emotional horror of the situation intensifies until suddenly the garish figures are mysteriously banished...only to gradually reappear wearing Cheshire grins and carrying piglets.

It's a conceit that pays off well, given that Carroll's heroine is usually defined by her capacity for shrinkage, growth spurts and bouts of tears. Ruby Bentall's Alice is an obstreperous, streetwise kid who responds in a contemporary manner. "It must be a computer game," she decides. "I just need to work out how to get on to the next level." Wade, Laura. "Oberon Books – The UK's most exciting independent publisher". Oberonbooks.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016 . Retrieved 26 November 2016. The Lewis Caroll classic story of Alice In Wonderland has been updated for the stage by playwright Laura Wade who retains all the familiar characters while giving them a more contemporary twist starting with a rather sad funeral before heartbroken Alice (Anya Coleman) is enticed down the rabbit hole - in this case a yawning great fireplace - by the White Rabbit (Zach McDermott).Theatre review: Breathing Corpses at Royal Court Theatre Upstairs". Britishtheatreguide.info . Retrieved 26 November 2016. Cooke, Rachel (25 November 2007). "Best of the West: Rachel Cooke interviews actor Sam West". The Observer. UK . Retrieved 6 June 2015. Throughout the long development process, Lavender adds, Wade kept a close hold on the boys she had created.

The play is not suitable for 5 year olds, but would be of considerable interest to thoughtful 12 year olds, particularly if they've read the book. de Semlyen, Phil (13 May 2014). "New Trailer For The Riot Club". Empire. Bauer Consumer Media . Retrieved 14 May 2014. Disney+ Reveals New Original Series "Rivals", an Outrageously Bold Eight-Part Saga Full of Power, Betrayal and Romance, Based on Jilly Cooper's Iconic Novel". The life of a playwright is, she concedes, an odd one: the "massively introverted" months of working alone, followed by the "massively extrovert thing" of having a play on. And right now, it is even weirder than usual. Her boyfriend, Sam West, is starring in the West End hit, Enron, a show she has seen seven times. Sundays have become "very precious". West is a noted birdwatcher. Has he given that up by way of a concession? No. "I think I thought it was a bit dorky at the beginning," she says. "But actually, it's thrilling. I love it. It's about evolving a different way of looking and hearing. We go all over and it's nice having something that we do that isn't about the theatre, though it isn't necessarily very calming when you're driving five hours to see a bird that may, or may not, have flown away by the time you get there." After a drama degree at Bristol University, she began writing seriously, earning her keep with temp jobs during the day. "Temping was good. At the beginning of the week, I'd hate everyone. By the end of the week, there'd be all these characters; everyone had some sort of quirk." But she regards her move to London and her joining of the Royal Court's young writers programme as the real start of her career. The Court was a wonderful refuge, not least because, for the first time, she met other writers.

Film4, which produced The Riot Club with Blueprint Pictures and the BFI, had its eyes on Wade as soon as it knew the play was under way, according to commissioning executive Sam Lavender: " It was beautifully written, witty, tough and humane, and she clearly had a great ear for the voices of these young men. I saw it a couple of times more after its transfer to the West End, and half the fun for me became watching the crowd's reactions to her characters, how torn they were between liking and judging these guys. That takes great skill to pull off." Wade was born in Bedfordshire and grew up in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. She studied Drama at Bristol University and was a member of the Young Writers' Program at the Royal Court Theatre.

Our production involves a mixed age cast, including a number of roles being undertaken by members of our drama classes. A family production par excellence! Personally, I would have liked more glitter in the set - well it is Christmas - and couldn't really recommend it for the under tens if only because of its length and complexity. I may be proved wrong by the end of the week. And it worked. In 2005, when she was still only 27, her first and second plays ran simultaneously in London: her debut, Colder Than Here, at the Soho theatre, and her second, Breathing Corpses, at the Royal Court. They won her a Critics' Circle award for most promising playwright and an Olivier award nomination.

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Wade's play will open just one month before the general election. No doubt the Royal Court, which commissioned the work, is pretty gleeful about this. Dominic Cooke, the theatre's artistic director, match-made her with the director of Posh, Lyndsey Turner, knowing that both of them were interested in working on the idea of wealth. A Bullingdon-style club at a play's heart is likely to stir more than the usual interest in a new work. Who knows, it may even swing the odd vote. But Wade is ambivalent about the timing. "It's a very visible time to have it go on and for me, it asks big social and cultural questions as well as political ones – and I don't want people to be disappointed when they find it's not just a big stitch-up. Because it isn't." On a feezing cold night in December a play was staged. A play that told of wondrous creatures and of things beyond imagining. A play in which the ordinary every day cares of the audience were suspended for a while as they entered a land of talking caterpillars, a beautiful blue cat, flamingos and hedgehogs, a turtle with a heavy load, a Queen with a nasty temper, a crazy Mad Hatter, and a little girl who having lost her brother in an accident dreams her way out of her sadness. Yes folks, It’s Alice in Wonderland, but not quite as you know it. This is Alice, by Laura Wade, adapted from Lewis Carroll’s famous tale, here on stage at The Criterion Theatre, Earlsdon. It’s a show that draws heavily upon the talents of the theatre’s young drama class participants and places them alongside some of the Criterion’s more familiar faces, giving them a chance to gain experience in the spotlight. It’s a good-hearted romp through a classic tale, spiced up with music from The Arctic Monkeys. BBC Radio 4 - Afternoon Drama, Looking for Angels, Looking for Angels: Otherkin". Bbc.co.uk. 30 August 2007 . Retrieved 26 November 2016.