Cirque Alice, The Play That Goes Wrong in Manila
If your idea of a good night at the theater involves either watching people do things the human body probably should not be able to do, or watching an entire production spectacularly fall apart in front of you, GMG Productions has your last quarter of 2026 covered.
Two very different international productions are coming to The Theatre at Solaire.
Cirque Alice makes its Manila premiere from October 16 to 25, 2026, followed by The Play That Goes Wrong from November 6 to 22, 2026.
One takes Lewis Carroll's Wonderland and turns it into a contemporary circus spectacle.
The other takes a murder mystery and asks what would happen if absolutely everything that could go wrong did.
This is not exactly a subtle pairing.
And that is why it works.
Cirque Alice brings Wonderland to Manila
First up is Cirque Alice, a two-hour circus production inspired by Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Rather than simply retelling Alice's story onstage, the production uses Wonderland as a playground for aerialists, acrobats, contortionists, puppetry, comedy, music and theatrical storytelling.
Which makes sense.
If there is any fictional world where gravity suddenly becoming optional feels completely normal, it is Wonderland.
The production comes from Simon Painter and Tim Lawson, whose previous work includes international productions such as The Illusionists and Circus 1903.
The creative team includes co-creative directors Ash Jacks McCready and Kirsty Painter, choreographer Dane Bates, costume designer Angela Aaron, lighting designer Hugo Mercier, and musical arrangers Martin Raabe-Olsen and Marius Christiansen.
The Manila run is being presented by GMG Productions in association with Lawson and Painter.
What interests me most about the idea is that they are not simply selling Alice as another familiar story with another coat of paint.
Circus actually gives the material a reason to exist again.
Wonderland has always been about scale, distortion, impossible movement and things behaving in ways they absolutely should not. Turning all of that into live physical performance feels like a much more interesting use of the source material than simply putting another giant mushroom onstage and calling it a day.
Cirque Alice runs October 16 to 25, 2026 at The Theatre at Solaire.
Then comes The Play That Goes Wrong
A few weeks later, the same venue gets handed over to people whose entire job is to make it look like they have completely lost control of the show.
The Play That Goes Wrong runs in Manila from November 6 to 22, 2026.
Created by Mischief, the comedy follows an amateur theater company attempting to stage a murder mystery.
That attempt goes badly.
Very badly.
Props disappear. Lines disappear. Parts of the set stop cooperating. Actors get injured, confused or increasingly desperate. The production keeps collapsing around them while the company stubbornly tries to get to the end of the play.
The joke, of course, is that none of this is actually going wrong.
The chaos has to be ridiculously precise.
That is what makes this kind of comedy difficult. A door failing to open at exactly the right second, a performer missing a cue in exactly the right way, or a piece of scenery collapsing at exactly the wrong moment only looks accidental because everyone involved knows exactly what they are doing.
The show began in London before becoming an international hit, eventually reaching the West End, Broadway and productions around the world. It has also earned major recognition at both the Olivier and Tony Awards.
But you do not need to know any of that to understand the appeal.
Sometimes watching people maintain absolute professional seriousness while everything around them becomes progressively more ridiculous is enough.
The Play That Goes Wrong runs November 6 to 22, 2026 at The Theatre at Solaire.
Solaire is going to be busy
There is another interesting part of GMG Productions' year-end lineup.
Alongside these productions, Harry Potter: A Yule Ball Celebration is also part of the company's Manila season at The Space at Solaire.
That gives audiences three very different reasons to head to Solaire within the same stretch of the year.
You can go from aerial acrobatics and Wonderland spectacle, to a Wizarding World celebration, to an amateur theater company being defeated by its own scenery.
Honestly, not a bad range.
More importantly, none of these experiences is trying to be the same thing.
That matters in a Manila theater scene where audiences should be getting more than one definition of what a big live entertainment event can look like.
There is room for spectacle.
There is room for straight comedy.
There is room for immersive entertainment.
There should be.
When do Cirque Alice and The Play That Goes Wrong tickets go on sale?
Tickets for Cirque Alice and The Play That Goes Wrong go on sale to the general public on August 15, 2026, exclusively through TicketWorld.
GMG Productions has also opened waitlists for both productions. According to the announcement, joining the waitlist gives audiences early access to tickets and 10% off ahead of the public sale.
Cirque Alice Manila
Dates: October 16 to 25, 2026
Venue: The Theatre at Solaire, Solaire Resort Entertainment City, Parañaque City
Public ticket sale: August 15, 2026
Waitlist: Join the Cirque Alice Manila waitlist
The Play That Goes Wrong Manila
Dates: November 6 to 22, 2026
Venue: The Theatre at Solaire, Solaire Resort Entertainment City, Parañaque City
Public ticket sale: August 15, 2026
Waitlist: Join The Play That Goes Wrong Manila waitlist
Tickets will be available through TicketWorld.
These may also be two of the easiest shows to explain to someone who knows absolutely nothing about them.
For Cirque Alice:
Alice in Wonderland, but people are flying.
For The Play That Goes Wrong:
Everything breaks.
I am sold on both premises.