Alice in Wonderland

Arriving on a cold and blustery evening, at least it wasn't raining, the warm welcome you get from the Chesil front of house staff is always a pleasure to get. We took our seats and settled in for the first of two short plays presented to us by Chesil Youth Theatre. There are two age groups Those in years 4-6 and those in 7-13. The older group performed in the second "act".

This version of Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll, was written by Brainerd Duffield and the whole story was embraced entirely by the cast, who were there to enjoy themselves and entertain the audience. This they did very well. The super costumes gave the youngsters a real ability to develop the characters that they had been assigned and this they did well with individual characterisation coming through. The diction, it has to be said, was equally good and could be heard well allowing the story to flow. 

The principals were led with confidence by Alice Wilson as Alice and backed up ably by James Phillipson as the White Rabbit and Frieda Standen-Walters with a Miranda Richardson-esque performance as the Queen of Hearts.

The stage was simple and effective with three flats to stage left and stage right with a small balcony to the rear (SR) allowing good use of the space, lighting enhanced the staging and scene changes were with props, on and off, slickly done, especially the food-laden table for the Mad Hatter's Tea Party.

Overall, given the age group, this was a more than creditable performance. Well done to the youngsters, we were very well entertained

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