Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland isn’t the usual material for a pantomime adaptation, but the addition of a few ‘oh no he isn’ts’ and an ‘it’s behind you’ and Alice was definitely in Pantoland. Burley Theatre Group created some great characters in the style of Lewis Carroll and all were cleverly costumed by Stephanie Palacios and her team.

Heading up team Goodie were The Right Royal Red King and Queen. Both with excellent diction, they carried us safely through the storytelling. Bernie Hughes threw herself into the role and showed an excellent sense of timing and humour. They were joined by a wonderful team of flowers (Team A when I was there) with beautifully crafted headdresses.

Alice was played with innocence and wonder by Rachel Holroyd who suited the part perfectly. In a strange panto twist she was joined by Harry (Ted Scott) who nobly filled in the gap that Lewis Carroll left to provide a sort of principal boy. Harry was confident on stage in a difficult bland sort of role. Well done to him for making the most of it.

Much more fun to play, I’m sure were the comedy roles. Amanda Clegg and David Harper enjoyed themselves very much as the two fools, Tweedledum and Tweedledee and Lauren Varley played a rather sinister but comedic Mad Hatter in the style of Johnny Depp. Vikki Wood opened the show enthusiastically as the White Rabbit.

But everybody’s favourites were of course the baddies- Mrs Wrong Rabbit, The Wrong Royal Red Queen and her entourage of Wrong Rabbits.  This was a splendid group full of well-drawn characters, and imaginative costuming and loads of energy from the team made all their scenes great fun. I especially enjoyed their song Bad Guys from Bugsy Malone as it was tuneful and suited a bit of choreography. For me the one criticism of the show would be some of the song choices, which I didn’t feel were always panto material and sometimes didn’t suit the range of the performers’ voices.

I brought a panto tester along with me to the show, in the form of a six-year-old called James. He was totally engaged in the whole evening but when I asked him to choose his favourite character, he went without hesitation to the Flamingo. A very simple puppet was manipulated with skill to show both humour and emotion. Well done to Rob Leach, the puppeteer, who also acted as stage manager. We all liked the business of the Looking Glass, when the goodies then baddies stepped though the frame. Well done on pulling off this clever, character changing scene.

A true village panto is always a joy. Congratulations to Pam Leach and Lauren Varley for pulling together a large team and for enabling such a big group of young people to continue their on-stage experience. I hope you both enjoy a good rest over Christmas.

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