Blur's Damon Albarn: My daughter's phone obsession inspired Alice in Wonderland musical

Blur star reworks Alice in online world but says he shuns social media
Creator: Blur singer Damon Albarn talks about his new project
Rex
Robert Dex @RobDexES11 December 2015
The Weekender

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Blur frontman Damon Albarn has revealed he was inspired to set his musical reimagining Alice in Wonderland in the online world after seeing his own daughter “completely self-absorbed” in her mobile phone.

The singer, who has written the music for wonder.land which updates Lewis Carroll’s classic fable to the world of the internet, said the “ambiguous” nature of the original made it a perfect vehicle for telling a new story.

He said: “It doesn’t really have a story in the conventional sense, it’s like a dream. It’s this beautiful, mad Victorian vision of the modern world”.

The National Theatre musical, with lyrics by award-winning playwright Moira Buffini, brings the story up to date with lead character Aly, played by Lois Chimimba, seeking refuge from problems at home and school in an online community.

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Albarn, who created the show with Buffini and National Theatre director Rufus Norris, said:

“The moment we started talking about this, with my daughter it felt like she had got on a cruise liner to the other side of the world via her phone so I was pretty upset.

“She was completely self-absorbed and I think you can see that reflected in this play.”

The singer, who proudly does not own a smartphone, says he “occasionally” uses a tablet to email and message his daughter but wants nothing to do with social media.

He said: “It would be a nightmare in my hands, tweeting, I get pissed and I’d say something. It’s like I’ve only got a bicycle because I wouldn’t be a great driver of a Ferrari.”

Chimimba, who described selfie culture and the resulting pressure for young people on how they look as scary, said working on the show exposed different generations’ views of the online world.

She said: “The show is such a celebration of what the internet can hold for you and in Aly’s story it brings out a side of her she never knew, so the internet doesn’t have to be as scary as proper grown ups think.”

Buffini agreed, adding: “It has changed the way I look at the internet because I was that scared parent. I was very mistrustful and still am deeply worried about the number of hours my kids spend on the internet, but I guess I’m no more worried about that than my parents were about the amount of TV I watched.”

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