Alice in Wonderland

From the opening announcement by the Queen of Hearts to the big closing number, this is a production where everything has worked beautifully. From the adaptation by the director Derek Tuffley to the specially composed music by Aidan McConville, from the gorgeous choreography to the attention and focus from all the children: this is a whole community of clever and committed theatre enthusiasts who have clearly loved putting this whole thing together, sparing no detail, no matter how small.

It is rare for an adaptation of Alice in Wonderland to focus on just that book: quite often scenes and characters are cherry picked and put together under one umbrella when really they are from the other Alice books. This version has allowed Lewis Carroll’s humour and his own words to come out which is a refreshing joy to watch, including a whole poem recited with verve and confidence by young Finley Gillam playing Mouse. The bizarre humour everywhere including lots of different wordplay allow this production to sing and shine; and the music is perfectly mood matched accompaniment, played by the orchestra of three: Aidan McConville on piano, Chris Hinman with beautifully rich sounding double bass notes, and William Davidson playing the fiddle with professional level superb skill. Their combination sounds exponentially more than their individual number which is magic in itself.

Lexi Timson plays Alice with wonder, confidence and yet a touch of fragility and does an amazing job: rarely off the stage, holding the whole audience in the palm of her hand in her opening solo, and continuing throughout the play with her wonderful story arc of increasing frustration and feistiness at wanting to get home and trying to make sense of everything around her. There are so many golden moments in this production: the appearance of the “drink me” bottle on a stool by a magical hand from the wings, and the “eat me” cake appearing on a stick held out from the side. Another thoughtful and funny moment is a smaller version of the white rabbit appearing to Alice after she had shrunk, showing the different perspective, which was super; and the grin of the Cheshire Cat rising from behind a box all on its own. This whole show has been created in the spirit of Lewis Carroll and his bizarre and bonkers humour, and all the moments in it, even the most fleeting, all add to the impressive quality of the show.

This story is a visual feast and they have created special moments to remember long after the show. The impossible long and graceful arm movements, right to her long fingers, by Zoe May as the Queen, sporting the highest victory rolls in her dyed red hair which added to the character beautifully; David Severn exuding the anxiety of the White Rabbit being late, and stymied into inaction and panic for almost more time than is comfortable, played brilliantly; the depressed Mock Turtle played by Jack Jackson-Humphrey with just a glimmer of hope for the future and shoes fitting the extreme theme well: all super. In fact, it would be easy, if long, to single each member of the cast out with their amazing performances. A standout scene is the Mad Hatter’s tea party: all three: Carine Roberts as the Mad Hatter, Tom Messmer as the March Hare and Evie Messmer as the sleepy Dormouse were simply superb. They were so incredibly together, the choreography and singing their song was joyous, and their characterisation is off the charts. Evie Messmer managed to be so still as to balance biscuits on her head while sleeping; her falling asleep was completely convincing. Tom Messmer embodied the March Hare, always twitching his whiskers, wide eyed and watchful, whenever he was on stage, even in the background. Carine was a wonderfully distracted Mad Hatter who led the bunch: they were absolutely outstanding together.

All the children in the production were wonderful too. You could tell they were all enjoying it and wanted to be there. They were drilled: knowing exactly what choreographed movement to do, and it hadn’t been simplified for them, and some are so very young. There was amazing focus and attention on show. The doors: Martha May, Eliza Hitton and Hayden Brown, especially the way they bantered between them: so flowing and natural, were brilliant. The Cheshire Cat pausing everyone to say “meow meow” with such typical authoritative cat attitude was super. Freya Butcher as Magpie, tipping her bowler hat and dancing with attitude had really wonderful stage presence, able to be funny without trying. Erin Gillam as the crab with claws almost bigger than she is, always moving sideways – as crabs do – and having the confidence to not mind if everyone moved off stage before her: again, brilliant.

You can feel the care and consideration that has gone into this, and how a whole community across all the ages have come together to put this on. This is a truly wonderful, inspiring production where everything has worked, and everyone is completely suited to the tasks and roles given to them. Huge congratulations to absolutely every single person involved, and hats off to director Derek Tuffley for adapting such an authentic and special version of a well loved tale. This is the highest quality production, full of love and care, focus and attention to every detail; and one that will live on in the hearts and minds of the audience for a long time.

 

Susanne Crosby

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