Hijinx Odyssey:
Odyssey is an inclusive community theatre featuring a mixture of actors with learning disabilities and/or autism and neurotypical actors who perform together as equal partners. Each December, the Odyssey company has produced a Christmas show at Wales Millennium Centre, which is supported by a professional production team.
- Odyssey
This exhibition was based within the foyer of the Wales Millennium Centre and was inspired by their production “The Curious Muchness of Stuff and Nonsense”, an alternate production of the story of Alice in Wonderland. This centred around Alys’ birthday party and her annoyance of being treating like a child. During her party Alys fell down the rabbit hole to find that Tweedle Dee was missing and that the Queen of Hearts had been made powerless. On her journey through Wonderland, she met the Mad Hatter. The piece explores the story of her time with him at the Tea Party, through themes of how emotions can be interpreted through colour and how different teas can improve mood.
For the project, we collaborated with a local school for children with autism. The pupils influenced how our final piece looked, seen in the elements that are surrounding the Hatter, where their drawings were added to the tea set. In addition, sessions were provided where they were able to create props to be used during the Mad Hatters scene.
