Coraline Illustrations by Projecto Gráfico

NOTE JANUARY 2025: NEIL GAIMAN IS AN ABUSER, I WROTE THIS PIECE FAR BEFORE ANYONE KNEW. PLEASE READ THE SIDE OF NEIL GAIMAN HIS FANS NEVER SAW, BY LAUREN STARKE (TRIGGER WARNINGS APPLY)

Projecto Gráfico is an Brazillian illustration collective. In 2018, they put together a theoretical set of illustrations for Neil Gaiman's Coraline.

Their work can be found here (along with a lot of Neil Gaiman's text translated into Portuguese!) 

Intriguingly as the content of the book gets darker tonally, the illustrations start turning from white to grey to black! 

Jorma Elo's Alice in Wonderland returns in August (in a new reworked version!)

Any long term readers of my old blog might remember my less than favourable reaction to Jorma Elo's Alice ballet, which premiered at Finnish National Ballet in 2016.

This year the ballet will have its first revival, again in Helsinki. Intriguingly Elo has promised a substantially reworked version.

So hopefully this fixes any errors.

No word on if there is an online livestream in August, but since the premiere was streamed in 2016, it would seem odd not to stream this re work!  

As always will update if there's any news! 

Alice by Heart: A post

I've left it until now to talk about Alice by Heart, the musical by the writers of Spring Awakening. Not because I've seen it, but because I read an earlier world premiere script (which was published by National Theatre for NT Connections 2016)

I had extreme reservations then and judging by reviews the show has not changed all that much.

My main problem with NT 2016 version still seems to persist in the 2019 MCC version. Namely, the show isn't sure how carrollian it wants to be. And its two stories in one link is awkward... 

When I read the 2016 NT script, I found there was a hard to ignore mis match between Carroll's story and the framing device of a teenager using Carroll's book as a way to escape war hardship and losing her beloved. 

The awkward match feels awkward because the writers use Carroll as a way of talking about teen issues.

*sigh*

 So the eat me drink me scene is about eating disorders. The Duchess sings a sexually charged song because hey! Alice in this version is approaching womanhood and is heterosexual (of course). 

This feels incredibly crow barred in and it disrupts what is otherwise a fairly good concept. 

Also I have the same problem that I have with every version that tries to "age up" Alice - the character, at its heart  (ha!) is 7 and a half. And ageing up a character alone doesn't really change that.

Basically, I wish I could like Alice by Heart, but somehow just can't. Sorry. 

The 1983 TV Series and an alternate playlist...

As I mentioned on facebook, the 1983 anime TV series is somewhat of an oddity.

One of its main oddities is that it doesn't adapt chapters from the books in order. 

If, like me, you're a purist and want to watch all episodes in their book order, consider this playlist as an alternate path through.