Throughout the long development process, Lavender adds, Wade kept a close hold on the boys she had created.

On 4 July 2018, Wade's play Home, I'm Darling premiered at Theatr Clwyd. It was directed by Tamara Harvey, and starred Katherine Parkinson. [13] The play transferred to the National Theatre for a summer 2018 run, [14] to the Duke of York's Theatre in January 2019, [15] and later won Best Comedy at the 2019 Laurence Olivier Awards. [16] Tribes have always been interesting to me, and the vintage tribe – people who feel they are born in a time they don’t belong in – seemed like a really good canvas to talk about lots of issues around marriage and domesticity. Wade has now tuned up the language of the screenplay. "It's like a musical score," she says. "The script exists as a top line, and then there's an underscore of banter that needs to happen all the time to make it feel like a lively dinner with lots of conversations all around the table rather than people taking turns to speak as they do on stage." They are quite entertaining," says Wade, in the manner of a fond zookeeper. "They're witty. They're clever. They have the verbal facility to follow an argument through to its end. This isn't a rugby-club dinner. The charge in the room is intellectual as well as physical."Does she find writing easy? "Not really. Some parts are agony. I certainly don't wake up and haemorrhage ideas." Posh, with its cast of 14, is her biggest play to date. But it was a less lonely business than usual. "Lyndsey and I worked on it scene by scene; there was no terrible moment when I handed this thing to someone, saying, 'That's my heart and soul on a plate.'"

We have two girls, and we think a lot about how we raise them as girls, what role models are available to them, what stories, and where they can see themselves in art. With that increased awareness it feels important to create work that isn’t exploitative, that tells positive stories, and to write about things that matter. Wade's play will open just one month before the general election. No doubt the Royal Court, which commissioned the work, is pretty gleeful about this. Dominic Cooke, the theatre's artistic director, match-made her with the director of Posh, Lyndsey Turner, knowing that both of them were interested in working on the idea of wealth. A Bullingdon-style club at a play's heart is likely to stir more than the usual interest in a new work. Who knows, it may even swing the odd vote. But Wade is ambivalent about the timing. "It's a very visible time to have it go on and for me, it asks big social and cultural questions as well as political ones – and I don't want people to be disappointed when they find it's not just a big stitch-up. Because it isn't." In theatre circles, the award-winning Wade is known for the precision of her writing and you feel her deadly accuracy in every sentence, every phrase, of Posh. Most of the play's action takes place in the private room of a country pub in which the Riot Club's members are meeting for one of their notorious dinners. The object of the evening is trashing: they get trashed and then they trash the room; the smashing of, say, only one chandelier by the end of the night will be considered a poor show. Carroll’s story has always been understood as more than just an imaginative and amusing children’s story, but this rendering takes its serious side to a new level, interpreting Alice’s journey as a psychotherapeutic escape from a very real tragedy. Its a clever way to understand Carroll’s exploration of the human psyche, combining the dark with the ridiculous with finesse, and it stays close enough to Carroll’s much-loved jokes and characters to keep loyal fans happy. Teenagers, in particular, will likely appreciate this version, especially if they happen to be going through a tough time (and which teenager isn’t?).Otherwise, I thought the whole cast was exceptionally talented. No problems about voice production there, and the singing was impressive. The women caught my eye in the first scene, Beatie Edney and Pippa Haywood (Duchess/Red Queen) but so also did John Marquez (a variety of strong roles including Humpty), and Jonathan McGuiness as a sensitive Dad and weak King of Hearts. West, like Wade, has earned a radical reputation due to his outspoken comments about politics and arts funding. Their new daughter joins what some would call an acting dynasty as the grandchild of Prunella Scales and Timothy West. Samuel, however, says the Wests are a family business and not a dynasty. Whatever the West legacy, there is a tradition of political activism. Three years ago, at 76, Grandfather West demonstrated against tax avoidance, urged on by Scales. BBC Radio 4 - Afternoon Drama, Looking for Angels, Looking for Angels: Otherkin". Bbc.co.uk. 30 August 2007 . Retrieved 26 November 2016. Graham O'Mara was on slightly dodgy ground as the Cheshire cat - 'Stroke my tummy' - but this scene was handled with consummate tact by director Lyndsey Turner, and O'Mara's convincing and innocent cat like purring deflated any thoughts of impropriety. John Biddle and Oliver Birch's double act as Tweedledum and Tweedledee was beautifully delivered and very funny. 'How cool is that?'

Wade was born in Bedford, Bedfordshire. She grew up in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, where her father worked for a computer company. [1] After completing her secondary education at Lady Manners School in Bakewell, Derbyshire, she studied drama at Bristol University and was later a member of the Royal Court Theatre Young Writers' Programme. Alice sets out on an inward journey, on which she encounters the familiar figures from Dodgson's story, who provide experiences and proffer advice about how to cope with the ups and downs of life. She eventually emerges, more capable of dealing with her loss, and ready to re-enter the real world. In a final encounter, the White Rabbit summarises the advice that she's been given on the way, and helps Alice to reflect on her 'learning experience'. So, the theme of this version, which starts with a funeral, is teenage bereavement and how to deal with it.

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Personally, I would have liked more glitter in the set - well it is Christmas - and couldn't really recommend it for the under tens if only because of its length and complexity. I may be proved wrong by the end of the week.

The white rabbit as a hoodie-wearing yoof? The Queen of hearts as Alice’s own mother? Croquet as a bargaining stage in mourning? It's Alice in Wonderland, but not as we know it. Where did the idea of Home, I’m Darling – about a modern couple choosing to live the lifestyle and revert to the typical gender roles of the 1950s – come from? It's a conceit that pays off well, given that Carroll's heroine is usually defined by her capacity for shrinkage, growth spurts and bouts of tears. Ruby Bentall's Alice is an obstreperous, streetwise kid who responds in a contemporary manner. "It must be a computer game," she decides. "I just need to work out how to get on to the next level." This delightful piece of Children's Theatre is reminiscent of Theatre in Education programmes in the 80s. Laura Wade's adaptation of Charles Dodgson's classic tale uses a framing device which makes Alice's journey relevant to the experience of an early 21st century child. The Alice in this re-working of the story is a traumatised 12 year old, whose older brother has recently been killed in a traffic accident; she has also been rejected by her mother, who is incapable of seeing beyond her own grief. Our production involves a mixed age cast, including a number of roles being undertaken by members of our drama classes. A family production par excellence!American premiere, produced by Luna Theater Company at Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, October 2007 London's Lyric Hammersmith to Present World Premiere of Laura Wade's Tipping the Velvet". playbill.com. Playbill. 15 April 2015 . Retrieved 19 April 2015. The four other actors, Adam Elliott, Dean Lamb, Suzy Nutt and Reece Miller, take on all the other thirty roles and display an impressive ability to switch character and costume in an instant – some seriously talented young people here. Tweedledum and Tweedledee are a special treat.