Review by Michele E. Hawkins.
Alice, a young girl sitting in a meadow, sees a waistcoated White Rabbit hurry by, looking at his pocket watch and muttering his fears of the consequences of being late. Alice follows him down a rabbit hole and finds herself in an extraordinarily curious world filled with logic-defying creatures, to say nothing of size-changing magic potions.
What a challenge it must be to bring into believable existence on the stage the cast of remarkable characters who inhabit Alice in Wonderland: the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, Tweedledum and Tweedledee (here Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee), The Queen of Hearts, the Caterpillar, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, Dormouse, and the rest. And can all of that possibly be done in one hour? The answer is a resounding yes.
At the matinee performance of 8 January, 2024, the audience was greeted by a stage decorated with larger-than-life glowing mushrooms; cards, a teapot, a magic key, and a keyhole floating about, against a backdrop of the meadow in which Alice first sees the White Rabbit. Once the lights dimmed a range of characters straight from Wonderland danced and pranced their way before us to narrate the story up until Alice fell down the rabbit hole to be among them. Confused and wondering where she was (and indeed who she was), Alice began her at times fraught adventures.
Eight actors play the story’s many characters, and all do so with brilliance, energy, great physicality, and humour. Not one faltered during the delivery of long, complicated lines; their timing was impeccable; and their facial expressions were fresh, realistic, and readable by even the youngest audience member.
Larger-than-life colourful costuming and headwear designed to signify characters’ places in the kingdom infused the entire production with an air of absurd magicality. The White Rabbit’s large and rounded derriere lent itself to amusing twitching; Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee’s rotundity gave shape to their silliness; the Caterpillar’s velvety blue and turquoise body foreshadowed the beauty of the butterfly he would become; and Alice’s blue dress, white apron, and curly blonde hair held back with a large black bow made her unmistakable as Lewis Caroll’s original.
Lighting was superb, taking the audience from dark and slightly scary shadowy places in which Alice becomes despondent and tearful to warm light-filled scenes of romping, stomping, fun. A classically flavoured soundtrack supported the story without ever overwhelming it, sound levels being just right.
Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass: And What Alice Found There, from which this production is adapted, though written for older children, contain many philosophical and mathematical curiosities for adults. This adaptation, built upon a string of vignettes rather than upon a plot, is principally for young children and has the visual magic to impart joyful memories. If the quiet absorption of the great many small children in the audience is anything to go by, its one-hour length appeared to be perfect for them.