Alice In Wonderland

This was an entirely homegrown adaptation of Lewis Caroll’s classic, written and directed by Karen Bays, musically directed by Roger Billington and very well aimed at its local audience. Following the original story, we had an initial scene in front of the tabs of Alice being scolded by her Governess for sleeping instead of studying, before she falls asleep again and disappears down the rabbit hole and into the arms of the White Rabbit.

When the curtains opened into Wonderland, we really were there, as we were gazing upon what can only be described as a masterpiece of a painted set, consisting of toadstools, trees, flowers and Butterflies to name but some of the effects. Under the stage management of Boggle, assisted by Charlotte Bruce, the set had been built by a team of eleven, which would be the envy of many a society, and what a fabulous job they had done, but the scenery artwork by Anne Bannell was simply outstanding. And when we returned from the interval the set had been completely replaced by yet another equally outstanding set of flowers and trees.  Fabulous work, you really did create Wonderland!

The props painted by Becky Bays were equally outstanding, especially for the Madhatter’s tea party. And to complete this colourful scene the costumes sourced by Marie Quick, Karen Bays and Felicity Leonard just enriched the scene even more. With the playing cards tabards on the youngsters, the fabulous dresses for the Dame, who made several changes, and was well matched by The Queen of Hearts, as well as the brilliant yellow and orange jumpsuits for Tweedledum and Tweedledee. And what a splendid orange wig and makeup by Jane Weir and Dominic Sharp for The Mad Hatter, got the character spot on before he spoke a word. And not forgetting the superb costume and makeup for the White Rabbit and all the various characters. A lot of detail had gone into costuming this cast.

Lighting by Darren Seekings and Graham Emmett was excellent, spot-on cue and even kept the audience on their best behaviour by regularly illuminating both us and the aisle for the many entrances that were made from the rear of the hall.

Sound was bravely taken on without any personal mics, with the actors actually having to project, for which I give them full marks; although initially the songs might have benefitted from some amplification. But great to see, a rarity and a dying art in this electronic age. Thank you Wellworth!

The story centred around the evil Queen of Hearts, brilliantly played by Ann Lister, whose costumes rivalled that of the Dame, basically being self-centred and evil to everybody and threatening to cut off their heads and not very impressed by the arrival of Alice, perfectly played by Francesca Mann, who carried the show very well indeed.

The King of Hearts was played by Mark Hebert, whose hound dog expression made him perfect for the part of the downtrodden King with a domineering wife. Very well matched.

It was Chris Thompson as The Mad Hatter who really kept us enthralled and entertained, always up to some mischief and tomfoolery. A natural comedian whose mannerisms and body movements produced many a laugh. Great job!

Neal Dench was a class act as Dame, sorry, I mean ‘Duchess’ Dotty, the Queen’s sister, having a very good rapport with the audience, with a mixture of excellent one liners and some terrible corny ones to groan at - exactly as pantomime should be!

Simon West was a very amusing White Rabbit, Julie Gill the March Hare, Keir Sims as Caterpillar, Vi Parkinson as a very smooth Cheshire Cat, Karen Murphy as a very demure Dormouse and the highly amusing ‘adult’ Jago Pearson doing a wonderful impression of a baby in a pushchair! Backed up by a couple of local citizens, “Wonderlanders”, played by Mary Chapman and Marie Quick.

There was an amusing, interlude ‘slapstick’ scene involving Geoff Durrant as the cook obsessed with adding pepper to everything via a giant pepper grinder, with the inevitable sneezing and ending up with an obligatory face full of whipped cream for several characters.

It fell to Tweedledum played by John Stinson and Tweedledee played by Abi Pettitt to keep us all laughing with the front of tabs scenes including a highly amusing one involving trying to trick the Knave of Hearts, played by Phil Bailey into believing  there was an echo every time he spoke, until of course Tweedledum couldn’t resist answering the questions rather than echoing them, thus perfectly demonstrating why he’s called Dum.

Then we had our chorus of enthusiastic youngsters playing very decorative flowers and Playing Cards clearly thoroughly enjoying themselves with a couple of routines of their own. Nice job: Diana Cirlan, Ariah Donovan, Gordon Russell, Eliza Spink, Eleanor Stevenson, Trinity Clarke, Jamie Medlicott, Ruby Segrave and Matilda Spink.

And then sadly Alice was awoken from her dreams by her scolding governess and left wondering if she had really fallen down a rabbit hole.

These homegrown adaptations of the classic fairy tales are the life blood of local pantomime. So well done to writer and Director Karen Bays on an excellent evening’s entertainment, thoroughly enjoyed by its local audience who clearly look forward to this annual trip into fairytale land. With all the hard work the cast and crew put into this show long may it continue!

 

 

 

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