This year we started a new group – the Seniors are for young people aged 13 – 18 years. Forming a new group has allowed us to explore with our young people what they want from the group. They told us friendship and socialising is important and so is learning things that they might not be taught in school. So, we have spent some time exploring Surrealism and how this might work in an outside context. Out of this work, the group decided to devise their first show, Wonderland, it tells the surreal story of how some of the well-loved characters of Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through The Looking Glass came to be…
Enter a world of mysterious woods that can exert its powers over hapless humans, who once stuck go round and round in a pool of suggestion, misdirection and transformation! Four individuals are transported into this mysterious wood and despite their entreaties to the folk that inhabit the wood and their best efforts to escape, they inexorably drawn to a total transformation into the Mad Hatter, the Caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat and the Dormouse!
The group created a complex promenade performance around the woods – with strange characters and happenings popping up all over the place. The performances were whimsical and strange and they led the audience on a strange but familiar journey! The group also made all their own costumes and props, which was hugely impressive.