Peter Pan jokes.
They never get old.
And nor does the story itself, apparently, if the upcoming London transfer of the bamboozling, immersive musical that is Neverland is anything to go by. It comes to you from a team of implausibly talented people including an Olivier award-winning producer and the creatives behind The Great Gatsby (which, one should note, arrived in London this time last year and has been repeatedly extended due to popular demand).
The show’s already had a spectacular run in Sheffield, and they’re now joining the motley roster of productions lined up for this year’s VAULT festival, with a weekend of raucous Neverland-themed late-night afterparties to boot. Here’s what you can expect…
THE SHOW
You’ll find Neverland poised within the clandestine labyrinth of subterranean tunnels that are The Vaults; an avant-garde theatre space hidden beneath Waterloo station. But of course, Neverland isn’t designed to be an easy place to track down, so you’ll be expected to clamber beneath bunk beds, wrestle through foliage and sneak through holes in the wall to find your way in. And once you’re there, you’ll be planted right at the heart of an immersive adventure, shifting seamlessly between the world of Peter Pan and the real stories of author J. M. Barrie and the Llewellyn-Davies family. You’ll be enlisted in food fights, commandeered to down shots of rum with the pirates, and surrounded by soaring live music from the Lost Boys themselves. All of which should stand you in good stead to carry on to…
THE LATES
Taking place on the 2nd and 3rd February, this one-off weekend sees two Neverland-themed afterparties surge into the rest of the Vaults space; where you’ll mingle with pirates, mermaids and fairies, seek out hidden absinthe bars, dance to a nostalgic soundtrack at a glitter-fuelled rave and treat the set as your own playground. There’ll be live music, DJ sets, colourful characters flitting through the crowd and fairies flying above your head.
So whether you’ve just stumbled out the show, or have arrived attired in head-to-toe glitter for the afterparty…
You’ll be hooked.
NOTE: Neverland runs at the VAULT Festival from 24th January – 18th March 2018. Tickets cost £26.50 and can be purchased HERE – plus, you can book in for one of the Lates on 2nd & 3rd February for £19 HERE.
Neverland | The Vaults, Leake Street, SE1 7NN
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