The Mad Hatter’s Collective presents a dark twist to Lewis Carroll’s magical wonderland with ‘A Nightmare in Wonderland’. Written by Wayne White, produced by Johann ‘Paala’ Perera and Directed by Reihan Stephen and Wayne White, the play unfolds the story of a shattered mind consumed by chaos and the price one pays for a poisoned imagination. A 10-member cast will take the spotlight this July, and ahead of the big day, we caught up with the cast to talk about their roles.

Mareeza Randeniya as “The Mad Hatter”

Having taken part in multiple school dramas, plays and Shakespeare competitions, Mareeza Randeniya debuts in her first public play as the Mad Hatter. 

• Describe your Character – A figment of Alice’s mind. A blood-thirsty Mad Hatter who is always looking to have fun. Except his idea of fun is…somewhat twisted.
• What has been challenging about your role? I’ve never done a role like this before. I have always done female roles. The biggest challenge of playing the Mad Hatter was to get his body movements right into each scene. I studied a lot of movies and took inspiration from Johnny Depp and Heath Ledger’s Joker. 
• Favourite line said by your character? “He ran afoul of something with wicked claws and lost his head”

Nethmi Gunasekera as “The White Rabbit”

Nethmi Gunasekera has been involved in theatre since her school days – debuting in her first major role as Dorothy in ‘The Wiz’ in 2017. She has worked in productions with Jerome de Silva and Wayne White and stepped out of the role of an actor to that of a Director while directing her first school play. Nethmi shares that having experienced the roles of an actor, crew member and director have all been very rewarding. 

• Describe your Character – An anxious rabbit, always on his feet – tap, tap, tap. He’s jumpy and spontaneous and very protective of Alice. 
• What has been challenging about your role? The White Rabbit is this very anxious character but it was difficult to pick what kind of anxiety to show. At first, we thought a very stoic anxious personality would be suited best but eventually, it made more sense for us to show a more erratic, anxious personality. It was also very challenging to manage the split in personality where the rabbit is struggling to keep control and show the difference between when they succeed and when they don’t. It was difficult to switch between those two moods because as soon as I cemented one emotion, the scene will change immediately! 
• Favourite line said by your character? “Alice, you know better than to go against us”

Visura Silva as “Dr. Marcus”

Having been involved in two stage productions previously, Visura Silva returns to the stage for his third production, this time as the main cast member. 

• Describe your Character? He is the head of the asylum and the doctor in charge of treating Alice. He’s a rigid old soul but there is good in his heart. He looks out for his patients and that’s where all of his actions stem from. 
• What has been challenging about your role? This play deals with a lot of big personalities and amidst all the charisma and intensity, my role in the play is to be the stoic wall that these big personalities bounce off of. What’s challenging about that is that I have to deliver my roles in such a way that it’s not boring to the audience. It needs to be toned down and paced out but not boring. That’s actually not easy to achieve! But it helps that the others are doing such a good job on stage – it cements my character mentally and both Rei and Wayne really helped me a lot also. 
• Favourite line said by your character? “She’s in no condition to be interrogated by you. Her mind is fractured and falling apart”

Janindi Perera as “Nurse Margrett”

Janindi debuts in her first public production with the role of Nurse Margrett. She is actively involved in school dramas and plays. 
Describe your Character – Nurse Margrett is the real motherly figure to Alice. She has been taking care of Alice for a long time and she’s one of the few people who care about her wellbeing. 
What has been challenging about your role? Honestly, what’s been really challenging is that the character just happens to be the total opposite of me because she’s so incredibly nice. It’s hard to genuinely portray that level of niceness. She’s also a very mature character and since I’m still quite young, it was hard to mature into that character. I got very close to Sashyani who plays Alice and because of our friendship and because I care about her a lot in real life, the love and fondness between Alice and Nurse Margrett naturally come out. 
Favourite line said by your character? “Oh dear, there is no one here. You are just having a nightmare!”

pix by Waruna Wanniarachchi