Hotel Wonderland, a story.
Let’s just say that this has been quite a journey… and I am due a few words of gratitude and appreciation. A few years ago I got a text from creative muse Tristan Hupe-Guimarães – he had started working on an exciting project called ‘Hotel Wonderland’ and asked if I wanted to be involved to help ideate and co-create the early stages of the theatrical design. I was introduced to fellow founders Michel Groenenstijn and Raymond Klompsma whose vision and ambition for this project was eminent from the beginning: curious, keen to learn more about the world of immersive theatre and incredibly energized to produce tactile and intimate human experiences in a world that had just started to engage in a wholly different way.
Despite the hardships of many of the lockdowns and push-backs in 2020 and 2021 slowing down the work – I took the opportunity to heart. I started out doing R&D, facilitated theatrical co-creation workshops and consulted for creative ideation and as time went on my role and contributions started evolving: in true start-up fashion I made myself available as assistant director, performer, dramaturg, stage manager and even set designer. I got to apprentice and sidekick the team of Cinereal Productions, Kelly Bartnik, the entire team of builders, all the international installation artists, the set designers, projectionists, our wonderful composer and sound designer Renger Koning, the production crew, Daphne Bruijne and Kiren Dulthummon as leaders of management and hospitality, all the hospitality staff, the chefs, our entire cast of wonderful hosts and actors whom I just adored. It became an ever evolving show world with, you know, a tiny spark of magic… but that was mostly because of the people.
After years of building and months of rehearsing we were ready for our first batch of previews into our first “opening night” (I say this in quotation marks because Hotel Wonderland was still start-up first, theatre production second). Unfortunately, at the peak of our marketing and word of mouth momentum covid and its heavy governmental restrictions made an unexpected return: we were unable to continue putting on shows and open the show for audiences and welcome the Netherlands to the wonders of large-scale immersive theatre…
…but perseverance, a healthy dose of patience and a bit of grit paid off. In the winter of 2022 things slowly started picking up again. The time allotted to go back to the drawing board allowed for a creative remount of the show to finetune dramaturgy and set design, one of the advantages of this being a startup that allowed for constant improvement. As we re-opened, we had collectively devised a new universe, one that was tremendously received by both press and audience.
Even though we had every intention to run this show for years on end, it became clear pretty quickly that the momentum that had been so meticulously cultivated had been lost after another hiatus. Theatres all around the world were struggling to get their tickets sold. Without proper governmental aid, many cultural institutions were at risk of losing it all before they had the chance to make audiences feel safe again to break the societal patterns of staying at home.
And on one day in May 2022 after having been able to have about a month of shows of the new rendition for audiences, the producers made the call to cancel all upcoming shows for the time being as our governmental funding arrived too late to make up for lost costs when we couldn’t do shows.
This came as a bit of a shock not only to everyone involved, but apparently also to the experience design scene internationally, many who had planned in advance to go see the show were now not able to witness it anymore and were patiently awaiting for any simmer of hope of yet another re-start in the makings.
As much as I’d loved our collective approach to treating this like an unconventional theatre production, against the status quo, the little rebel in the industry risking it all to try something new – I also had to admit that taking this go big or go bust approach always had to go hand in hand with the possibility of failure. And to be completely honest, after all of the work we had put in, to most of us that’s how it felt at first.
There were still a lot of loose ends – the founders were commendably doing everything they could to get a creditor agreement going and amongst the cast there was incentive to create a condensed version of the show, half the length, half the space, half the visual spectacle (read: no professional lights and audio as this was quickly claimed back in the proceeding months) as a showcase for potential new investors.
The devising process of these two shows was out of my hands entirely and I was incredibly touched to see how special and intimate these last performances were. It reminded me of how we do Stone Soup – everyone comes together with a shared intention to share something magical. It dawned on me that, very fitting to the name Hotel Wonderland, the expectation to run this show as a business may have distracted us from its real gift. The opportunity bestowed to us all, audiences and makers alike, to be welcomed into a magical realm as mere visitors can not be understated. The dream once incepted by Raymond, Tristan and Michel to instill wonder and onbevangenheid into the world had been successful. And after every good hotel visit, sometimes it can be be just as nice to come home afterwards.
Hotel Wonderland, a story.
Let’s just say that this has been quite a journey… and I am due a few words of gratitude and appreciation. A few years ago I got a text from creative muse Tristan Hupe-Guimarães – he had started working on an exciting project called ‘Hotel Wonderland’ and asked if I wanted to be involved to help ideate and co-create the early stages of the theatrical design. I was introduced to fellow founders Michel Groenenstijn and Raymond Klompsma whose vision and ambition for this project was eminent from the beginning: curious, keen to learn more about the world of immersive theatre and incredibly energized to produce tactile and intimate human experiences in a world that had just started to engage in a wholly different way.
Despite the hardships of many of the lockdowns and push-backs in 2020 and 2021 slowing down the work – I took the opportunity to heart. I started out doing R&D, facilitated theatrical co-creation workshops and consulted for creative ideation and as time went on my role and contributions started evolving: in true start-up fashion I made myself available as assistant director, performer, dramaturg, stage manager and even set designer. I got to apprentice and sidekick the team of Cinereal Productions, Kelly Bartnik, the entire team of builders, all the international installation artists, the set designers, projectionists, our wonderful composer and sound designer Renger Koning, the production crew, Daphne Bruijne and Kiren Dulthummon as leaders of management and hospitality, all the hospitality staff, the chefs, our entire cast of wonderful hosts and actors whom I just adored. It became an ever evolving show world with, you know, a tiny spark of magic… but that was mostly because of the people.
After years of building and months of rehearsing we were ready for our first batch of previews into our first “opening night” (I say this in quotation marks because Hotel Wonderland was still start-up first, theatre production second). Unfortunately, at the peak of our marketing and word of mouth momentum covid and its heavy governmental restrictions made an unexpected return: we were unable to continue putting on shows and open the show for audiences and welcome the Netherlands to the wonders of large-scale immersive theatre…
…but perseverance, a healthy dose of patience and a bit of grit paid off. In the winter of 2022 things slowly started picking up again. The time allotted to go back to the drawing board allowed for a creative remount of the show to finetune dramaturgy and set design, one of the advantages of this being a startup that allowed for constant improvement. As we re-opened, we had collectively devised a new universe, one that was tremendously received by both press and audience.
Even though we had every intention to run this show for years on end, it became clear pretty quickly that the momentum that had been so meticulously cultivated had been lost after another hiatus. Theatres all around the world were struggling to get their tickets sold. Without proper governmental aid, many cultural institutions were at risk of losing it all before they had the chance to make audiences feel safe again to break the societal patterns of staying at home.
And on one day in May 2022 after having been able to have about a month of shows of the new rendition for audiences, the producers made the call to cancel all upcoming shows for the time being as our governmental funding arrived too late to make up for lost costs when we couldn’t do shows.
This came as a bit of a shock not only to everyone involved, but apparently also to the experience design scene internationally, many who had planned in advance to go see the show were now not able to witness it anymore and were patiently awaiting for any simmer of hope of yet another re-start in the makings.
As much as I’d loved our collective approach to treating this like an unconventional theatre production, against the status quo, the little rebel in the industry risking it all to try something new – I also had to admit that taking this go big or go bust approach always had to go hand in hand with the possibility of failure. And to be completely honest, after all of the work we had put in, to most of us that’s how it felt at first.
There were still a lot of loose ends – the founders were commendably doing everything they could to get a creditor agreement going and amongst the cast there was incentive to create a condensed version of the show, half the length, half the space, half the visual spectacle (read: no professional lights and audio as this was quickly claimed back in the proceeding months) as a showcase for potential new investors.
The devising process of these two shows was out of my hands entirely and I was incredibly touched to see how special and intimate these last performances were. It reminded me of how we do Stone Soup – everyone comes together with a shared intention to share something magical. It dawned on me that, very fitting to the name Hotel Wonderland, the expectation to run this show as a business may have distracted us from its real gift. The opportunity bestowed to us all, audiences and makers alike, to be welcomed into a magical realm as mere visitors can not be understated. The dream once incepted by Raymond, Tristan and Michel to instill wonder and onbevangenheid into the world had been successful. And after every good hotel visit, sometimes it can be be just as nice to come home afterwards.