Alice in Wonderland

Alice on stage?  But, no, its not a musical.  Executive Producer Ethan Walker believes, ‘the original book is so delicious and remarkable that… the words would be lost if we were to make this production a musical’. So, here is an exuberant, pacey compression (just one hour) of Carroll’s work with additional material chosen by adapter/director Penny Farrow from Alice Through the Looking-Glass, The Hunting of the Snark and a volume of Carroll’s poetry, Rhyme? And Reason?

Possibly, the kids in the audience know the characters and story best from the Disney animated version, but all the favourite characters are here, played by a cast that – thanks be – savours the text and (mostly) enunciates its witty nonsense clearly: Alice (Georgina Walker) of course, the White Rabbit (a puppet operated and spoken by Jacqui McLaren), the Mad Hatter (a stand-out Karen Crone, a pleasure to watch), the March Hare (Liam Nunan), the Dormouse (another puppet operated by Jackson McGovern), the supercilious Caterpillar (Jackson McGovern again), the Cheshire Cat (a puppet role shared by Jackson McGovern and Simon Burvill Holmes), the very funny and cleverly choreographed Tweedle Dum (Merrlyn Tong), Tweedle Dee (Tamara Meade, who also doubles as a cheeky larrikin Prince of Hearts) and the Queen of Hearts (a traditional panto ‘dame’ role for Simon Burvill Holmes).  All except Alice also work as an Ensemble, narrating the necessary jumps in Alice’s journey from one strange experience to the next.

Two small reservations, however.  Mr Burvill Holmes could perhaps wring more laughs from his Queen of Hearts were he to go ‘panto dame’ even more – or, in other words, play more to the audience and, dare I say, camp it up.  Ms Walker (looking exactly like the famous illustrations) is fluent, sweet and attractive, but is she a little too grown-up?  She doesn’t really play Alice as a little girl – a child – which undercuts her little girl text.  A little girl standing up to a Queen who orders ‘Off with Her Head’ is a lot braver and more fun.

Things move swiftly, as they must, in a series of set pieces, with Sam Gibb’s lighting bolstering the transitions with bold changes.  A fine example of his work is when Alice drinks from the bottle marked ‘Drink Me’, and Ms Walker really appears to shrink – and, at the end, really assume normal size.

Zachary Lieberman supplies a single, all purpose set (this is a touring show) in blues and pinks and hints of the characters, with a most useful mushroom that transforms for other purposes.  Mr Lieberman’s costumes, designed with Ethan Walker, are sumptuous, delightful and just right; there’s been no skimping in that area. 

There is perhaps a drawback to the production’s emphasis on the words - much as we might applaud the intention.  The ‘Victorian’ sensibility of the jokes, the logical contradictions, satire and inspired nonsense of Carroll’s words, at times appeared to go over the young audience’s heads (certainly over the head of my very smart nearly eight granddaughter).  There’s a tradition with this kind of show that it operates on two levels: one for the kids and the other for the Mums and Dads (or whoever) who’ve brought the kids along.  But here, at times, neither level hits home.  What’s being done and said on stage is clever and funny: I expected more laughter than I heard. 

The final set piece of the show – the ‘trial’ of the Prince of Hearts, in which everyone buys in - is the prime example.  The ‘point’ gets lost.  It’s no longer ‘about’ Alice – she’s a commentator: it’s too talky, everyone’s talking at once and everyone’s in a hurry, and the show loses its visual humour and its grip on the audience. 

Slow down, perhaps, and choreograph the mayhem?  That episode, however, is the penultimate five minutes of an otherwise delightful show. 

Michael Brindley

www.aliceinwonderlandlive.com.au