The Mad Hatter's Tea Party
31 July–14 August 2020
Online premiere: Friday 31 July 2020 at 7pm BST, broadcast free online as part of the Royal Opera House's #OurHouseToYourHouse series.
ZooNation: the Kate Prince Company creates irresistible narrative hip hop dance theatre. Their exuberant, sell-out show The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party taps into the heady imagination of Lewis Carroll’s much-loved world, exploring its unique characters and wondering what has made them the way they are. The show was commissioned by The Royal Ballet to complement the now-classic large-scale Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, uniting ballet and hip-hop under one tradition of excellent storytelling through dance. ZooNation’s take on Carroll’s classic is a riot of invention and infectious energy, and the amazing physicality of such dancers as Tommy Franzén, Turbo and Teneisha Bonner brings a new dimension to the characters we thought we already knew so well.
ZooNation has won nationwide acclaim with its hugely popular shows, including Into the Hoods and Some Like It Hip Hop. Playfully drawing on everything from Shakespeare to Sondheim, Artistic Director Kate Prince and her company present brilliantly exuberant dance adventures overflowing with energy and wit. The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party brings together regular ZooNation collaborators Ben Stones, with his innovative and colourful set designs, and the musical team of Josh Cohen and DJ Walde. As The Telegraph commented: ‘You’d be mad to miss this party!’
The #OurHouseToYourHouse online Friday Premiere is dedicated to the memory of Teneisha Bonner, creator of the role of the Queen of Hearts, who died in 2019 from breast cancer.
Synopsis
Young psychotherapist Ernest is an expert in being normal – he even has a PhD in normalization. He’s just begun his first job, at the prestigious (if rather gloomy) Institute for Extremely Normal Behaviour. It’s immediately clear his patients need his help: the March Hare, the Mad Hatter, Tweedledum and Tweedledee and the furious Queen of Hearts all claim to be from somewhere called Wonderland. But as Ernest gets to know them all, he begins to ask himself two big questions: what is ‘normal’ and what’s so great about it anyway?
Cast
BertieJosh Cohen
ErnestTommy Franzén
The Mad HatterIssac ‘Turbo’ Baptiste
The Queen of HeartsTeneisha Bonner
AliceKayla Lomas-Kirton
Tweedle DumRowen Hawkins
Tweedle DeeManny Tsakanika
The March HareBradley Charles
The Cheshire CatAndry Oporia
The White RabbitJaih Betote
The DormouseDerek Dormouse
Dr Fontwell (band)Josh Cohen
Dr Helvetica (band)DJ Walde
Dr Gill SansEliotte Williams-N'Dure
Dr MonacoSheree Dubois
Dr BodoniAndrew Bryant
Creatives
CompanyZooNation: the Kate Prince Company
Director and writerKate Prince
ChoreographyMembers of ZooNation
MusicJosh Cohen and DJ Walde
LyricsKate Prince, Josh Cohen and DJ Walde
Set and costume designsBen Stones
Lighting designAndy Murrell
Sound designMartin Adams and Thomas Thompson
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