Alice in Wonderland

I’m guessing that most people know the story of ‘Alice in Wonderland’, where a young girl disappears down a rabbit hole to go on an adventure in Wonderland, but Cannock Chase Drama promised us a ‘Bonkers’ musical family pantomime, and it did not disappoint – in a good way!

We were welcomed to the show by the Cheshire Cat, which, to my surprise, turned out to be a puppet! This was expertly operated and voiced by Finnan Hinton, and, after his second appearance, I was so transfixed on the cat, that I had forgotten that Finnan was on stage – sorry Finnan.  We soon met young Alice, played sweetly by Em Askey, and got to love her innocent portrayal of the character, making many friends on her journey.  Ocean Winsper’s portrayal of the White Rabbit was really animated, and her character shone throughout the production.  Dottie ‘the Hottie’ Duchess, played by Helen Collins and The Mad Hatter, Brian Washington, displayed a double act of experience and worked hard to make sure that the audience were involved throughout.  They performed with great pace and timing to gain maximum comedy effect, I must admit that my favourite scene in the show was the extremely clever ‘Who lives Where’ etc and was performed admirably by the three characters. Of course, no pantomime would be complete without a villain to boo and hiss at, and the Queen of Hearts, played by Lauren Barry, had soon convinced the audience that she was this villain.  The cameo roles of Tweedle Dum (Linda Askew), Tweedle Dee (Jake Betts), and the Caterpillar (who turned into a beautiful butterfly) played by Jonathan Edwards all gave confident performances and used their time on stage to great effect.  It is fair to say that all in all, this show had a very strong line up of characters who made the audience believe that they were in Wonderland.  These were well supported by a chorus who provided confident dance routines and vocals to many of the musical items, I was particularly impressed by the harmony singing which added to the overall sound. It was also nice to see that the society have junior members who are interested in keeping up the tradition of performing, long may they continue.

The show looked spectacular, with super costumes, just how you imagine the characters to look, and magical scenery, particularly the Wonderland cloth which was enhanced by excellent lighting effects throughout. The show was performed to backing tracks, which were of a very professional standard, making the songs come alive, sometimes the balance of these can be distracting, but not on this occasion.  There were some very clever additions of original numbers and lyrics too.

Congratulations to everyone involved on putting on a very entertaining and enjoyable show.

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