Alice in Wonderland

A real attraction of modern pantomimes is authors’ tendencies to keep the basics of a classic story, get rid of the boring bits and bring new plot devices along with new characters. And so with Andrew O’Leary’s Alice in Wonderland, charmingly staged by Swavesey RADSOC, which introduces Alice this time as a resident – or inmate, perhaps? – of the Home for Lost & Unwanted Girls.

Alice has a special watch, desired by the Queen (of Hearts) who commissions the castle farmhand Jack to seek out Alice, kill her and snatch the watch. Along the way, we’ll encounter the cruel headmistress of the Home for Lost & Unwanted Girls, a Mad Hatter, Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee and many of the characters native to Lewis Carroll’s original classic down a rabbit hole.

Swavesey RADSOC’s production opened with rainbows of light from handheld torches that looked like electric ice lollies illuminating the opening dance number. The theme of colour carried on throughout the show, from costumes to the brightly lit stage.

Abbie Hughes was an engaging Alice, a lovely singer as well as a very ‘Alice-like’ presence onstage. She led a cast who understood the quirky whimsy in their roles, in particular John Pickering as both the King and the Caterpillar, Freya Sellars delightful as the Dormouse, Stephanie Fearon-Isle as the White Rabbit and Matt Isham as a zonked-out Mad Hatter, who looked the world like [former Led Zeppelin singer] Robert Plant of old. 

And even though the Queen is the villain, Hannah Whiffin was great fun in a very evil way in that role, navigating the stage on her knees underneath a wonderful frock! Also evil and worthy of many boos was Adrienne Sharman as the cruel headmistress Ms Hackett who (deservedly) suffers one of the worst fates in this telling of the story.

Katy Hughes had the probably challenging task of portraying Alice’s love interest Jack the farmhand, as Alice was portrayed by her real-life daughter Abbie. But she skilfully brought the panache of the principal boy’s character to life, singing quite well too.

As Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, Rachel Isham and Liz Lightfoot amused the audience with their knowing, ‘smart but dumb’ teamwork and jokes. Not exactly henchmen, the pair made mischief wherever they went on their travels and of course, end up on the right side of the law.

Kudos to the multi-skilled Martin Avery who took on many key offstage roles, from lighting and sound to box office and musical director, and delivered exceedingly well on all points.

And wow – the costumes. Created by (Stephanie) Fearon-Isle, (Rachel) Isham and (Hannah) Whiffin, the collection was imaginative and very enviable! A favourite was the Queen’s layered black dress with a red heart embroidered on the chest. The Mad Hatter’s gold, bellbottomed trousers were perfect rock star chic, and the Caterpillar sported a set of clever headgear and top that certainly turned the actor into the Caterpillar. Of course, in keeping with panto traditions, the Dame – this time a cook named Cookie (Ian Farr) – had a terrific wardrobe as well.

Directed by Phil Bailey and Di Chapman, this production brought smiles all around the auditorium and took the edge off a cold January afternoon quite nicely. Thanks for the invitation and the hospitality, too, Swavesey RADSOC!

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.