Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
by Anthony Neilson • after Lewis Carroll
East 15 Acting School • MFA International Acting • The Corbett Theatre • 2023
East 15 Acting School • MFA International Acting • The Corbett Theatre • 2023
A traditional Victorian world crashes into a New Wave Wonderland inspired by Vivienne Westwood, Devo and 1980s video games — built through physical theatre, live audience play and the collective imagination of the ensemble.
The ProductionAnthony Neilson’s adaptation takes Lewis Carroll’s familiar story and embraces its strangeness, wordplay and theatrical possibility. For our Christmas production with East 15’s MFA International Acting students, I wanted the journey into Wonderland to feel like Alice had fallen not simply into another place, but into an entirely different set of theatrical rules.
We began in a deliberately traditional Victorian world: ordered, recognisable and restrained. Wonderland exploded that order. Drawing on Vivienne Westwood, Devo, 1980s New Wave and early video-game aesthetics, we created a world that was anarchic, colourful and constantly transforming. The contrast gave us our central rule: the further Alice travelled into Wonderland, the less the rules of her old world applied. |
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Falling into New Wave
Music became one of the clearest ways of separating Alice’s two worlds. Rather than reproducing the musical language of the original production, we reimagined its songs through an 80s New Wave lens, allowing the sound of Wonderland to feel as transformed as its visual world.
The influences were deliberately eclectic — the theatrical provocation of Vivienne Westwood, the strangeness and precision of Devo, the synthetic energy of New Wave and the heightened logic of early video games all fed into the same fever dream.
I wasn’t interested in creating a historically accurate 1980s world. We were borrowing its attitude, artificiality and sense of rebellion to build our own Wonderland.
The influences were deliberately eclectic — the theatrical provocation of Vivienne Westwood, the strangeness and precision of Devo, the synthetic energy of New Wave and the heightened logic of early video games all fed into the same fever dream.
I wasn’t interested in creating a historically accurate 1980s world. We were borrowing its attitude, artificiality and sense of rebellion to build our own Wonderland.
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Making Wonderland Together
Much of our Wonderland was discovered through improvisation. Rather than arriving in the room with every sequence already decided, I gave the ensemble structures, provocations and images to play with, and we used what emerged to find our version of Carroll’s world.
That process allowed each familiar episode to develop its own theatrical logic. The Lobster Quadrille became a runway, with actors vogueing down it; the croquet match became a piece of organised anarchy; and characters, environments and transitions grew through the physical and comic instincts of the company.
Working this way gave the actors genuine ownership of Wonderland. My role was to shape that material into a coherent world while protecting the sense that anything could happen next.
I’d keep it exactly at that length too. It communicates three important things very efficiently: how you structure improvisation, how the actors contribute creatively, and what your role is in shaping devised material into a finished production.
That process allowed each familiar episode to develop its own theatrical logic. The Lobster Quadrille became a runway, with actors vogueing down it; the croquet match became a piece of organised anarchy; and characters, environments and transitions grew through the physical and comic instincts of the company.
Working this way gave the actors genuine ownership of Wonderland. My role was to shape that material into a coherent world while protecting the sense that anything could happen next.
I’d keep it exactly at that length too. It communicates three important things very efficiently: how you structure improvisation, how the actors contribute creatively, and what your role is in shaping devised material into a finished production.
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Poor Theatre, Big ImaginationWonderland didn't need to become spectacular through elaborate scenery. I was much more interested in what the actors could make us see.
Physical theatre, shadow puppetry and poor-theatre approaches allowed the ensemble to transform the space in front of the audience. Bodies could become environments, simple objects could take on new meanings, and scale could be created through play rather than realism. That simplicity suited Carroll’s world. Wonderland could change instantly because we weren't bound by the practical rules of reproducing it literally. If the company committed to the transformation, we invited the audience to imagine it with us. |
No Fourth Wall
Wonderland didn't stop at the edge of the stage. From the beginning, I wanted the audience to feel that the characters could see them, speak to them and pull them into the rules of the world.
Direct address and improvisation gave the performers permission to respond to what was actually happening in the room rather than protecting a fixed fourth wall. With a young audience, that relationship became particularly alive: children called out, reacted, laughed and became part of the event.
Rather than treating those responses as interruptions, we made space for them. Wonderland became something the actors and audience were creating together.
Direct address and improvisation gave the performers permission to respond to what was actually happening in the room rather than protecting a fixed fourth wall. With a young audience, that relationship became particularly alive: children called out, reacted, laughed and became part of the event.
Rather than treating those responses as interruptions, we made space for them. Wonderland became something the actors and audience were creating together.
Order → Anarchy
Underneath all the visual chaos was a simple journey from order into possibility. Alice begins in a world governed by rules about how to behave, how to speak and what makes sense. Wonderland dismantles those rules one by one.
The production allowed chaos to become liberating. By the time we reached the Queen’s court, the question was no longer whether Wonderland made sense, but whether the rules Alice had arrived with ever made much sense either.
The production allowed chaos to become liberating. By the time we reached the Queen’s court, the question was no longer whether Wonderland made sense, but whether the rules Alice had arrived with ever made much sense either.
The world of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was built through transformation, play and the imagination of the ensemble. Design, movement, music and voice helped us create the collision between the ordered Victorian world and the anarchic New Wave Wonderland, while keeping the actors at the centre of each transformation.
Creative Team
Writer / Adapter: Anthony Neilson
Original Story: Lewis Carroll
Director: Kay Brattan
Designer: Mila Sanders
Movement Direction: Lawrence Carmichael
Vocal Coach: Colin Sadler
Musical Direction: Neil Somerville
Photos by: Andrew H Williams
Company
MFA International Acting Class of 2023/24 · 14 actors
Creative Team
Writer / Adapter: Anthony Neilson
Original Story: Lewis Carroll
Director: Kay Brattan
Designer: Mila Sanders
Movement Direction: Lawrence Carmichael
Vocal Coach: Colin Sadler
Musical Direction: Neil Somerville
Photos by: Andrew H Williams
Company
MFA International Acting Class of 2023/24 · 14 actors
