Alice in Wonderland

It was obviously going to be a “curiouser and curiouser” night with Menston Thespians when, on entering the venue, I was invited to “go down the rabbit hole” to get to the bar. Alice in Wonderland is not the most pantomime friendly of stories but Menston Thespians version of Tom Whalley’s script  has woven the characters into a broadly familiar story but with strong pantomime traits. Whilst drawing on the original characters and plot, this show was entertaining from start to finish, packed full of colourful characters and zany situations. If energy is the key to pantomime, Menston Thespians provided it in bucketloads. With an all-age company, a live band and a lively mixture of song, dance and action, there was hardly a dull moment.

Predictably, those characters that talk to the audience and get them shouting out, are the ones that dominate and here, these two roles were given to very strong performers who dominated the production. Nick Howell must be one of the better amateur dames in this area and his Duchess was superb. He passed comment on the action and commanded the proceedings like a pro. He was very brave to wear the yellow polka dot bikini. Nick was ably assisted by the energetic ever-late White Rabbit, played by Sarah Lee, who had an excellent rapport with the packed audience.These two formed the strong backbone of the production.

Every pantomime has to have a good and a bad fairy and this was no exception but how does that work in Alice you ask ? The “good fairy” was the charming Cheshire Cat (Claire Wright Paget), who, as you would expect, never stopped smiling and the “bad fairy” was the Knave of Hearts (Sally Hughes) who  elicited every available boo from the audience.

Mia Nabarro-Steel was a charming Alice with a strong singing voice who met a motley collection of characters as she travelled through Wonderland. It’s easy to see why this script was chosen – because it gives opportunity for so many members to be part of the show. Alice encountered all the odd set of characters from the original book – the Caterpillar (Matt Hardin), Mock Turtle (John Ealden), Tweedle Dum (Charlie Birkett), Tweedle Dee (Ruth Birkett), the domineering Queen of Hearts (Elaine Galvin) and her subservient husband, the King of Hearts (Wander Bruijel). Each of them, in their own way, added to the evening’s entertainment.

One of my favourite scenes was the Mad Hatters Tea Party. There was totally logical craziness from a manic Mad Hatter, a wonderful over the top performance from Rob Gillet-Place, an equally mad March Hare (Keith Galvin) and the sleepy Dormouse (Sophie Paget).

The large ensemble of children were well drilled and performed with energy and life in some well known numbers. Musical choice was very good and suited the story perfectly and the choreography (Rob Gillet-Place & Ruth Birkett) was matched to the abilities of the company and was neat and well thought through. It’s a delight to see a live band, under the direction of David Boddy, when so many Societies are having to resort to backing tracks, mainly because of financial restraints.

Technically, the show was first rate. Lighting (Rob Finlay) and sound (Steve Gillet-Place and Harry Place) were excellent and, given the limited resources available, sets (Gavin Birkett & Adam Nabarro-Steel) and props (Vicki Hannam) were suitably colourful and surreal. Similarly, the costume (Marj Inman, Rob Gillet-Place, Sally Hughes & Sarah Hobson) & makeup (Amanda Botterill) team had a field day – there’s not many shows that have such a wide range of costumes – from playing cards to turtles! Their efforts added considerably to the overall look and feel of the show. Congratulations to the Stage Manager (Gavin Birkett) and everybody backstage on keeping the show running so smoothly.

Direction was tight and imaginative and the show moved along at a nice pace. Steve Gillet-Plce clearly understood the more surreal aspects of the story and his feel for the visual story telling aspect was really good.

Do I have any criticisms ? Just one, but this in no way detracted from the enjoyment of the audience but is worth a mention. I felt that at almost 3 hours, the running time was a bit long for a pantomime. This really is a minor comment however as I had a great evening, as did the audience. Or did I? Maybe I dreamt it all?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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