L-Avvizi 4 – News Letter

How is it even November already?

This surreal year is finally almost over but before that happens we have a few dolls to finish making, as part of our latest project Alice in Wonderless Land which was recently launched as part of ŻiguŻajg Festival’s programme of events, even though this is a very different event to any other we’ve ever put together and in truth isn’t really an event at all. What we’re offering audiences this year is an experience, an experience communicated through an intricately-made doll that will bring this tailor-made and socially distant  DIY performance to you.

If you’re a teacher who tuned in to ŻiguŻajg’s school Zoom meeting last week then you probably know that we only have 40 dolls to go around. That’s 20 dolls programmed in Maltese and another 20 programmed in English because yes, this is indeed a bilingual project. Each doll will come with a set of instructions that will walk you through how to use the doll, the playing cards and the rabbit USB provided within Alice’s carefully crafted box. It’s all fairly simple once you have the doll, you just have to order her before you get to play along. First things first.

We’d also like to remind anyone reading this that Alice in Wonderless Land is only suitable for teenagers of 14 years or over as the subject matter discussed is more adult than meets the eye. So as you hurry to snatch up your limited edition Alice doll (which by the way will remain your school’s forever once ordered) we’re busy working on Alice’s finishing touches. Her hair is being styled by Michael and Guy as we speak, and by styled we mean that they’ve made 40 little Alice wigs to attach to 40 recently assembled and painted scalps. Her clothes are also being sewn and stitched together at the moment by resident Teatru Malta wardrobe supervisor Sarah Grech the woman responsible for making each one of our Alice outfits. 

In short life in plastic is more complicated than it seems. So if you’re interesting in offering your students something more than an online stream and are up for an entertainingly theatrical tutorial on consumerism, feminism and enabling social environments instead then look no further than Alice in Wonderless Land a DIY project which we’ve adapted from the original piece by Franca Rame and Dario Fo. The project also features original music by Alexandra Alden and the voice of actress Mariele Zammit.

Oh! And before we forget the resource packs for Alice in Wonderless Land will soon be available too, our consultant Lou Ghirlando is just finishing them before we ship them off to be designed but they’ll be uploaded fairly soon. 

To order your doll click here, fill out the form provided and await further instructions.