Alice in Otherland

After 25 strong years, Side by Side continue to be an absolutely amazing force in Stourbridge, West Midlands. It is a company like no other.

This performance of Alice in Otherland was Side by Side’s triumphant return to Stourbridge Town Hall bringing a unique and wonderful take of Alice in Wonderland to the stage. Originally written by Artistic Director Sue Wallin, Alice in Otherland tells the story of Alice Carroll who is the Great Grand-daughter of Alice in a brilliant slice of a parallel universe (a concept to which I love), or was it all a dream? Or was it her Great Grandmother’s dream?

Alice follows a White Rabbit down a Rabbit Hole and this begins her many adventures, but these adventures are of a different kind; meeting some familiar characters but also some very different.

To name a few adventures, Alice finds herself on the run from angry “Bake-Off” contestants after refusing to accept their bribes and judge their cakes. Alice also joins Boris (The Bear) and Dominic Raab(it) at a “tea party” for Brexitfast where there was a debate to what to eat, but Sausages were OFF the menu because the Three Pigs were close friends. I enjoyed the wonderfully choregraphed slow motioned moment when drinking tea which stood out in this scene.

Alice also meets and dances with a Wolf Hatter, the nicest wolf you could ever meet and Alice inadvertently finds herself mixed up with the politics of the many Queens of Otherland, including The Red Queen, The White Queen, The Gypsy Queen and a Queen Bee. In the end Alice is accepted by the people of Otherland and crowned the Queen of Hearts.

There were many fun, cheeky well delivered jokes and some scenes were just pure gold. Some of my favourite scenes included a bunch of Vegetables fighting back at “The Vegetarians” and a suspiciously looking evil Jibber-Jabber-Jab-Awock, being defeated in the end with a vaccine!

A scene which instantly captured me because it looked so good was when members of the company were waiting for a train in Act Two. This had some striking imagery with a nice measure of contemporary staging with visual effects, light, music and smoke. Not to mention some incredibly talented dancers!

The show had everything you would expect from a company packed full of committed, hardworking, creative and talented individuals. There were smiles all round and the company showed strong team work and supported each other on stage with tenderness and presence.

It was a unique and emotional evening, especially when the company took their well-deserved bows at the curtain call. Seeing everyone together on stage was such a joy.

Side by Side are a wonderful company who never fail to bring a smile to your face. Thank you so much for the kind invitation and hospitality and I hope to see you again in the future.

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