Wise Children Tickets

Emma Rice has craftily adapted Angela Carter’s last novel in this joyful, yet bizarre and twisted, exploration of class, paternity, and show business.

The story focuses on twin sisters in their 70s, reflecting on the life of their ancestors and recollecting stories of growing up as show girls in South London. Nora and Dora’s mother died not long after giving birth to them, and with their father, Melchior Hazard, abandoning them to pursue his acting career, it was left to their guardian, Grandma Chance, to raise them. As young children, their uncle shows up one day offering financial support on behalf of their estranged father. However, it’s not until a pantomime performance years later that the girls encounter their father for the first time. It becomes clear that Melchior has moved on in life. He is married to a beautiful wife, and they have twins of their own. He is not interested in his illegitimate children. Yet as Nora and Dora get older, their love of performing leads them to accepting a job in one of their father’s plays. Will he ever see them as more than showgirls and accept them as his daughters?

Recommend age: 14+ (some sexual content, swearing and adult themes throughout)

What to watch for

From “Hamlet” to “Othello,” “The Tempest” to “King Lear,” look out for the many Shakespeare references throughout the show.

Set and costume designer Vicki Mortimer has created a beautiful adaptable set that centres around a revolving caravan. Watch as it unfolds into multiple houses, an ice cream van, a theatre, and even turns into the rooftops of London.

Two years on from her departure as artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe, Emma Rice has launched her new theatre company, which shares the same name as the debut production in the company’s residency at The Old Vic.