“You’re
Late! You’re Late! For A Very Important Date”
Creation Theatre, Big Telly Theatre Company
and Charisma.AI present
ALICE | A Virtual Theme Park
Online
Saturday 1st – Sunday 30th
August 2020
Adapted and directed by Zoe Seaton,
featuring award-winning writer Charlotte Keatley
Site-responsive and immersive theatre-makers Creation
Theatre and Big Telly Theatre Company present an innovative and fresh take on
Lewis Carrolls’ Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Teaming up with Charisma.ai,
ground-breakers in interactive and immersive storytelling technology, this
digitally advanced production, blends live acting and the latest in AI and
online video techniques.
Audiences will be invited to dive down the rabbit hole to
experience a magical theatrical experience, meeting their favourite characters
from this much-loved classic along the way. While venues remain in lockdown in
the UK, the show bridges the worlds of theatre, art and technology and reunites
the successful creative team behind The Tempest Live. Alice will be performed
live each time across four weeks.
Director Zoe Seaton comments: “We wanted to be wildly
ambitious and imaginative with this show and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
is really freeing as a story. It’s so playful and already so surreal, mixing
reality with illusion, a perfect combination for digital. The idea of setting
the play in a theme park is also an ingenious, unconventional way to unlocking
Alice’s adventures with the audience, and plays upon the skill of the actors,
storytelling and drama.”
The creative team also includes playwright Charlotte
Keatley, best known for her award-winning play My Mother Said I Never Should,
described as one of the significant plays of the 20th century. Keatley has been
part of the devising process and has guest written a scene from the Mad
Hatter’s tea party. The set and costumes have been designed by Ryan Dawson
Laight (Chichester Theatre Festival, Gary Clarke Company, Denada Dance Theatre,
V&A).
The production features a seven strong cast and includes
Leda Douglas as Alice (Soho Theatre); Vera Chok as the Queen of Hearts (National
Theatre, Almeida, Regents Park Open Air Theatre); Dharmesh Patel as The Mad
Hatter (RSC, Shakespeare’s Globe); Colm Gormley as the March Hare (RSC, Shakespeare’s
Globe, Royal Court, Royal & Derngate); Tom Richardson as Tweedle Dee/Dum (New
Vic Theatre, Watford Palace Theatre), Annabelle Terry as the Doormouse/Cook (Creation
Theatre’s The Tempest Live) and Nicky Harley as the White Rabbit (Game Of
Thrones, HBO).
Charisma.ai, whose work on ground-breaking creative
technology includes creating narrative gaming experiences for Sky, BBC and
other networks, are incorporating their artificial intelligence platform and
trailblazing online video techniques to bring a new level of immersion to the
Zoom platform.
Founder Guy Gadney said: “The past few months have seen
digital platforms emerge as storytelling media in their own right. This
production of Alice interweaves real-life and virtual environments to make a
brilliantly immersive and playful version of Carroll’s magical story. This
combination of theatre and technology presents a new and exciting opportunity
for Charisma.ai, building off our previous experience in television and
publishing to help bring to life a new form of theatre.”
Background - Theatre in Lockdown
When lockdown happened, site-responsive and immersive
theatre specialists Creation Theatre teamed up with Zoe Seaton’s Big Telly
Theatre Company, and quickly moved its thinking to how live theatre could operate
online. The Tempest Live, Interactive and In Your Living Room, was one of the
first productions made for the digital stage utilising Zoom at the beginning of
April 2020. The 20 live performances were watched by audiences in over 15
countries. Alice, reunites the successful creative team behind the
critically-acclaimed and global hit production.
Praise for The Tempest Live
4 Stars “Magical…The stuff dreams are made on.” The Guardian
“Magical and awakens our imagination” Front Row, BBC
Radio 4
Best Theatre to Watch List Time Out New York
“Messy but in a good way” Lyn Gardner
“You genuinely feel part of a shared experience” Rev
Stan
“Leaving us heart-warmed and smiling” A Younger
Theatre
Creatives:
Director and adaptor: Zoe Seaton
Co-producer: Guy Gadney: Charisma.ai
Set and Costume Designer: Ryan Dawson Laight
Charlotte Keatley, guest writer – The Mad Hatter scene
Paul McEneaney - Illusionist
Stage Manager: Sinead Owens
Cast:
Leda Douglas – Alice
Vera Chok – Queen of Hearts
Colm Gormley – March Hare
Dharmesh Patel – The Mad Hatter
Nicky Harley – The White Rabbit
Tom Richardson – Tweedle Dee/Dum
Annabelle Terry – Doormouse/Cook
Tickets:
Dates: 1 – 30 August
Ticket price: £20 per device
Times: 4pm and 7pm
Running Time: Approx 90 mins
Box Office 01865 766266 or online at www.creationtheatre.co.uk
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