Aladdin, But In A Whole New World?
Posted on 6 January 2016
We all know the story of Aladdin, the 'diamond in the rough', the genie who spews love advice, the evil villain, the isolated princess... But what if the characters of Aladdin begin their journey in the modern day UK?
The way I see it, at least 20 things have totally changed...
- The battle of Jafar vs Aladdin consists of a meme-battle on twitter, and a sassy Jafar wins.
- When Jafar says that he had an angry bird, he is politely corrected: 'no, dear, it's Angry Birds'.
- The question of 'who is Aladdin's father', has been resolved by a DNA test.
- Aladdin doesn't have to steal bread, but he can only afford Tesco Value.
- The 'cave of wonders' is filled with oil.
- Aladdin might think that he's 'one jump ahead', but he's being tracked on CCTV.
- Jasmine has fed her cat too much rich food, and now the cat is fat.
- Jasmine and Aladdin both agree that it is far too soon to get married, and that they should focus on their careers for a while first.
- The Genie still goes to Hawaii after he's been set free, but his phone contract lets him call abroad for only 5p per minute, so he and Aladdin stay pretty close.
- Aladdin has to see a therapist about his compulsive lying.
- Jafar sees a therapist about all sorts of things, including his obsession with power, money and parrots.
- The Genie becomes said therapist.
- Aladdin is inspired by loads of the characters around town: he particularly likes Peter from the Hunger Games and Valjean from Les Mis.
- When Jasmine says that she has been on a magic carpet ride, she is drug-tested.
- Aladdin has watched six Youtube tutorials before flying on the magic carpet. And he never flies without a seatbelt.
- Instead of singing to Jasmine, Aladdin texts her.
- Instead of becoming a prince, Aladdin gets into politics – Jasmine still strongly dislikes the career change and questions Aladdin's integrity.
- Aladdin quizzes the Genie on his legitimacy, and asks to see ID, before accepting any Terms & Conditions.
- Aladdin tells Jasmine that he can show her the world, but then he sees the price of plane tickets and buys Jasmine a snow globe instead.
- Jafar, unfortunately, knew to read the small print when it came to becoming a Genie.
Do you have any more tweaks for a modern day Aladdin? Tweet us! @Theatre_Direct
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