Vic's Wonderland

NEXT week an army of workers will descend on Museum Gardens in York to transform the area into a ten-acre magical wonderland in which Vic Reeves meets Lewis Carroll.

Reeves, the Leeds-born and Darlington- raised comedian, is donning his artist’s hat as the star name behind the biggest and boldest Illuminating York project yet. He has been “given free rein to unleash his absurd and magical creations in the centre of York”, so we’re told.

Exactly what his imagination will let loose won’t be fully revealed to the public until opening night on October 31, after an army of helpers has spent a week creating Wonderland in the gardens where York Mystery Plays were staged for a month this summer.

While Reeves will be using his imagination, the other partners in the venture will be seeing to the more practical issues of transforming a world heritage site into Wonderland.

Simon Baker, who works in architecture and urban design, is one third of the artistic team tasked with delivering the festival, which aims to be a major tourist attraction with tens of thousands of extra visitors expected in the city.

Chetwoods Architects – Baker’s MD of the company’s Leeds office – is responsible for space planning and event architecture. Lighting design is in the hands of Arup with audio visual and interactive media handled by York-based Bright White Ltd in partnership with Ben Clowes, Bar Lane Studios. Wonderland has been several years in the making. Chetwood and Arup responded to a call from York City Council for ideas for Illuminating York 2011. “Our pitch was along the lines of reinterpreting the festival to become an event and an environment as opposed to projections on existing monuments,” explains Baker.

“We wanted to change it from being a two-dimensional display into something three-dimensional that people would come and experience.

The device to do that was to introduce a narrative into the project.

“We chose Lewis Carroll’s Alice and the idea was to turn York into Wonderland, and visitors would become Alice in the way they experienced it.”

BRIGHT White studios pitched the idea of absurdity and comedy, wanting to bring in humour through the inventiveness of Vic Reeves.

The council’s response was to ask if they could all work together. Baker welcomed the idea, feeling their concept would be stronger for the input of other artists. They spent three months seeing if a combined effort was possible – and it was.

Then the Museum Gardens was suggested as the site for the ambitious idea. Again Baker views this as adding greatly to the project. “To be given access to a world heritage site and archaeological remains adds to the whole mystery, mystique, mythological aspect and timelessness of the idea,” he says.

There was a problem, one of time.

The council suggested that staging it in 2011 didn’t leave enough time to get organised. It was decided to wait until 2012’s Illuminating York for such a large scale project.

Reeves is the new Carroll with his artworks the perfect match for the absurd world being created. It’s been a real collaboration between the various parties involved. “Vic’s Wonderland is inviting people to go into his garden and experience what it’s all about and who the creatures that live there are. This is like a new state within York,” says Baker.

“The Victorians would have walked through the gardens as promenaders, this is going to make it an experience. There are some things that are incredibly high-tech, such as the interpretation of graphics and artwork into animation to have people dancing on the abbey walls. At the opposite end we are doing some things low-tech, like creating an entrance to Wonderland out of plywood.

“It will play with people’s perception of light and the senses. You have the heritage of the museum and abbey and a sense of timelessness.

Then you have Vic Reeves’ artworks projected technically on to places.”

Baker is confident it won’t seem like a theme park. “It’s much more like someone having a garden party – and a pretty spectacular garden party,” he says, “There are points to linger and watch sequences. You can wander through, the go back and reengage with the artworks. There are graphic and sound installations.

“We are building very little, but making use of what is there. The gardens are blessed with a number of architectural features. The issue for us was introducing the festival without detracting from what’s already there. So this really is theatre in the round.”

The result will be to – literally – show York in a new light.

• Illuminating York 2012 runs from Oct 31-Nov 3 from 6.30pm- 10.30pm each evening. Tickets: £5 per adult, under-fives free, six-16 years £1 (under 16s must be accompanied by an adult). Tickets are timed passes giving an approximate time of entry with no pressure to leave, spend ten minutes or two hours. Available now from York Theatre Royal in person or on 01904-623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk For more information visit illuminatingyork.org.uk