WELCOME to "the happiest place on Earth", Wonderland, an enchanted kingdom of fantasy and imagination filled with family-friendly attractions and magic entertainment, dining and shopping.

The scene is set for Operation Wonderland, the latest piece of provocative theatre by Sheffield company Point Blank, at Drama Studio 2, York St John College, on Wednesday.

Point Blank specialises in satirical and surrealist meditations on contemporary culture. Their last target was an obsessive interior design fan who seeks to emulate Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and ends up creating a new look for a war zone in the Middle East.

This time, the magic at Wonderland starts to falter when elephant dung rains down on the launch of a new complex. A subversive element is at work and as he contemplates bolder and more vigorous acts of rebellion, Wonderland is preparing secretly for its own shock and awe.

Operation Wonderland follows an employee, Jed (Stewart Lodge), whose daily duties at the theme park's waste disposal unit are interrupted by the enigmatic Blue Fairy (Jenny Ayres), the granter of children's wishes at her grotto.

Both disgruntled employees dream up acts of revolt, and it transpires that the Blue Fairy is on a recruitment drive for a terrorist cell. Or is she an agent provocateur with a more sinister agenda?

Director Liz Tomlin, who has written the play with Steve Jackson, says: "The show is satirical, surreal and at times hallucinatory. The writing is lyrical in its empathy for its misguided and sometimes derailed protagonists and brutally witty in its depiction of the folly of their world.

"In Operation Wonderland, stylised movement, sound-scape, lighting and design combine to underscore the poetic, absurd and sometimes dislocated narrative that unfolds."

Tickets for Wednesday's 7.30pm performance cost £5, available from Lower Walker 13 at York St John College or on the door.

Updated: 16:30 Thursday, February 05, 2004