Far from a ‘Wonderland’
Rehearsing at the Wendt: From left, Yehana, Mareeza, Jemiah, Nethmi and Sashyani. Pix by Eshan Fernando and Akila Jayawardana
Come with an open mind – don’t expect the usual Alice in Wonderland story” cautions the cast.
Co-director Reihan Stephen adds, “Our play takes everything you know about Alice in Wonderland and just turns it into something else entirely.”
In a warped departure from the Lewis Carroll classic, Directors Nigel Wayne White and Reihan Stephen of the Mad Hatters’ Collective present ‘A Nightmare in Wonderland’ at the Lionel Wendt theatre. In this reimagining, Carroll’s fantastical tale filled with delightful oddities, is turned on its head and shrouded with macabre themes and chilling undertones.
The script written by Wayne, sees Alice reintroduced to the audience, not as the curious and cheerful young girl most have grown up knowing her to be but as an unhinged and deeply unsettled patient of the Wittsend Asylum following a brutal attack on her father.
The colourful and eccentric characters of Wonderland whom she befriended in the original classic now encroach on her fragmented mind and impact her waning sanity as sinister alternate personalities. Throughout the play, a team of detectives and her doctor try to piece together fragments of her mind as the truth emerges in a far more twisted way than they had anticipated.
Sashyani and Nethmi
The cast is made up of Sashyani Rodrigo as Alice, Mareeza Randeniya as the Mad Hatter, Nethmi Gunasekera as the White Rabbit, Yehana Perera as Tweedles, Jemiah Sourjah as the Cheshire Cat, Visura Silva as Dr. Marcus, Janindi Perera as Nurse Margaret, Shehani Guruge as Camila and Vihan Wickremasurendra as Constable Jenkins. The play is produced by Johann Perera.
First acquainted during their school days at St. Joseph’s College, Reihan and Wayne shared that this is the third iteration of ‘A Nightmare in Wonderland’. Their version made its debut in 2016 as part of the school’s inter-house drama competition where it was adjudged the runner-up despite them only having a week to write, rehearse and complete the set.
Deciding to dub themselves the Mad Hatters on the night of that performance, Wayne recalls, “No one else would have been mad enough to try this, at least no one else we knew, because we were two directors who have never done anything before and I myself was a writer who had never written something which had been performed or published before.”
The idea for the play came to Wayne after reading Grimms’ Fairy Tales while in middle school, sparking his interest in dark themes and stories. His original script was reworked for the Odeum competition hosted by the Ceylon University Dramatic Society of the University of Peradeniya in 2018. As one of the six scripts selected for the event, the production won best short play, best director, best actor and best actress awards.
The upcoming performance has been extended from its original 25-minute duration to one and a half hours.
The Mad Hatters’ Collective was founded in 2017 as the duo wanted to encourage more theatre enthusiasts to present their work and “give people the chance and the kind of belief we had in ourselves.” They have also released two short films – ‘An Isolated Incident’ and ‘The Un-usual Suspects’ which premiered online on their YouTube channel.
Sitting in on the rehearsal process, it was intriguing see the transformation of the usually jovial cast when on stage, luring the viewer into a shadowy world where reality and imagination merge indiscriminately. Sashyani Rodrigo desperately attempts to keep the foreboding Wonderlanders at a distance as the grinning Cheshire Cat played by Jemiah Sourjah slinks menacingly around provoking her with malicious verbal jabs. The youngest cast member, Yehana Perera who plays Tweedles adds to Alice’s torment with gleeful taunts along with the rest of the Wonderlanders while Visura Silva offers some stability with the composed Doctor Marcus, determined to make a breakthrough with Alice.
“I’ve never had a role as big as this before,” says Sashyani. It’s been two months since she landed the lead role and she adds that she knew that it would be a lot of work. “I wanted to see how much I could explore this character – it’s a mental challenge to get into character because there’s a lot of deep complex emotions I didn’t even know existed in me which I had to tap into.”
Jemiah who initially auditioned for a different role was cast as the Cheshire Cat when the directors realized how well the role suited her. Having to prowl around Alice while on her hands and feet, she says the role comes with the challenge of being “very physically demanding and a complete workout”. Yehana on the other hand shifts into her character with little difficulty and draws laughter from her castmates when she says “I’m supposed to act like a child and I am a child so this is going to be easy!”
Visura who had previously worked with the Mad Hatters’ Collective in ‘The Un-usual Suspects’ says, “it’s a play full of unhinged people and my role is very stoic – it’s sort of something for them to bounce off of.”
Reihan and Wayne are happy with their young cast’s prowess. “We’re both firm believers that if you give an actor a blank canvas and minimal direction they’re going to give you something you didn’t see earlier and these guys have done that over and beyond.”
The costumes conceptualized by Wayne and executed by well known costume designer Jojo De Silva strike a balance between elaborate detail capturing the twisted nature of the production while maintaining some simplicity in design. The Mad Hatter’s costume to be worn by Mareeza was inspired by the costume worn by Johnny Depp in in the 2010 live action adaptation of Alice in Wonderland.
‘A Nightmare in Wonderland’ will be on at the Lionel Wendt Theatre on July 1st and 2nd at 7.30 p.m. The play is recommended for mature audiences only.
Tickets priced at Rs. 2500, 2000, 1800, 1300 and 800 (balcony) are available at the Lionel Wendt box office from 10 a.m. -5 p.m.
(tel: 011 2695794)
For more information and updates, follow the Mad Hatters’ Collective on Facebook @madhatters.collective, Instagram @madhattersco and on YouTube – The Mad Hatters’ Collective
On our Magazine cover: Sashyani Rodrigo and Shehani Guruge.
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