(London) After attracting millions of viewers on Netflix, the fantasy series Stranger Things is now on stage in London to reveal the origins of the “upside down world”.
The premiere of Stranger Things: The First Shadow took place on Thursday evening at the Phoenix Theater in the West End, in the presence of celebrities such as the star actor of the series David Harbour, accompanied by his wife, the British singer Lily Allen.
This theatrical adaptation, a prequel to the phenomenon series whose fourth season was released last May, also takes place in the small American town of Hawkins, Indiana, around twenty years before Stranger Things.
It tells the story of the youth of iconic characters such as Jim Hopper and Joyce Byers – David Harbor and Winona Ryder in the series –, who face “shadows of the past”, in the same mix of horror, science fiction and adventures.
The play promises to take viewers “back to the beginning of the Stranger Things story – and may well hold the key to the ending,” according to its creators.
This adaptation was directed by Stephen Daldry (The Crown, Billy Elliot), and written by Kate Trefry, who participated in writing the series with its creators, the Duffer brothers. Netflix is producing with Briton Sonia Friedman, a regular at London’s West End and Broadway shows.
Stranger Things, which resurrects the pop aesthetic of the 1980s, has been one of Netflix’s biggest hits since its launch in 2016. Set a generation after the play, it tells the adventures of a group of teenagers who face off against monsters emerging from a frightening parallel dimension, the “upside down world”.
Its fourth and penultimate season was watched by some 140 million viewers worldwide, according to the platform.
