Dublin nightlife takes to the national stage

Alice in Funderland is the first new musical at the Abbey in 20 years, says Pádraic Killeen

WITH the premiere of new electro musical Alice in Funderland, the Abbey Theatre isn’t just taking a stray glance through the looking glass. It’s diving headlong into it.

Written by Phillip McMahon, with music by Ray Scannell, it’s the first musical on the national stage in 20 years, but what distinguishes this production would seem to be its provocative aesthetics. Directed by Wayne Jordan, it conjures an alternative Dublin, a fantasy citadel of the night inhabited by a host of vibrant, transgressive characters, amongst them a hooker attired in red PVC and imperious drag queens (in this case, Delores, the queen of Hartstown).