The National Theatre’s critically acclaimed adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane visits Mayflower Theatre from Tuesday 4 to Saturday 8 July.
Returning to his childhood home, a man finds himself standing beside the pond of the old Sussex farmhouse where he used to play.
He’s transported to his 12th birthday when his remarkable friend, Lettie, claimed it wasn’t a pond, but an ocean – a place where everything is possible.
Plunged into a magical world, their survival depends on their ability to reckon with ancient forces that threaten to destroy everything around them.
Directed by Katy Rudd (Camp Siegfried) and adapted by Joel Horwood (Skins, I Want My Hat Back), the first major stage adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s work is a thrilling adventure of fantasy, myth and friendship – which blends magic with memory in a tour-de-force of storytelling that takes audiences on an epic journey to a childhood once forgotten, and the darkness that lurks at the very edge of it.
“The Ocean at the End of the Lane is about memory, magic, family,” says writer, Neil Gaiman. “It’s about who you were and who you are.
“It’s not like anything else I’ve ever been involved in.
“It’s not like anything else you’ll ever see at the theatre.
“The Ocean at the End of the Lane has its own theatrical magic.
“It’s why happy people tell you that they cried while watching it, it’s why it becomes a dreamlike experience in memory, it gets bigger the further inside you follow it. Like a duck pond that contains an ocean that holds the universe.”
Neil Gaiman is known for his graphic novels, including The Sandman series, Stardust, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book, and multiple film and television projects, including Good Omens and Anansi Boys.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane introduces audiences to Gaiman’s magical world and the much-loved characters that inhabit it, fully realised on stage.
Tickets for The Ocean at the End of the Lane (suitable for ages 12+ (4 – 8 July 2023)) are on sale at mayflower.org.uk or 02380 711811.
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