Alice in Wonderland - A curious pantomime

Alice in Wonderland is not a title that springs to mind as a Pantomime, although all the elements of Panto are there, with the Dame taking the role of the Duchess, there is a Baddie and the equivalent of the Good Fairy. After meeting the Baddie, who better, than a rather superior Knave well portrayed by Lee Clifton whom we immediately learnt to boo. We were straight into the opening which was very true to the story we all know. Nicely set with an appropriate backcloth where we meet Alice and her sister reading a book before Alice meets the White Rabbit.

The show revolves around the characters of Alice and the White Rabbit and these were respectively Alice Hornsby and Dale Hornsby. This was a wonderful pairing of the two them, this was a good performance from Alice, which I couldn’t really fault, she had good stage presence and nice clear diction, which helped bringing out her lovely singing voice. Whoever appeared alongside her onstage knew that they were fully connected and that they were going to have a great stage relationship. I don’t think that I’ve seen Dale better, he was totally in control of the stage and the audience who warmed to him immediately. This was the perfect role for him and he performed faultlessly, great timing throughout, ‘hurry, hurry, Mr. Bunny’ was gleefully called out to him, again great diction and he and Alice gave a good rendition together of ‘A million Dreams’ before leading the company in ‘Happiness’.

As the show progressed we met the various characters of Wonderland. Lee as the Knave, smartly dressed with good make-up creating a rather suave villain and with his height quite imposing, he had a riot singing and dancing with the dance group in ‘Predicting a Riot’. Our ‘good fairy’ was the Cheshire Cat, this was an alluring and entertaining performance from Laura Clifton-May, good stage presence in her great costume, always appropriately smiling with a smile accentuated by the wonderful make-up. She gave us a cat that we would all have liked to take home. I still can’t get used to a Dame with a beard, Jim Coote is the only Dame I see like this, he is certainly larger than life and appears to very much enjoy this role together with the banter he has with the audience, this time with audience member Anthony. Quick with the repartee and much use of inuendo he engaged cheerfully with fellow cast members and gave an enjoyable song with ‘Nobody does it like Me’. The twins Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum were a most energetic and entertaining double act presented respectively by Mary Bush and Emily Bexon, these two were great to watch, mannerisms and facial expressions, all replicated, a good duet in ‘Together, wherever we Go’ and they got well stuck in with mess in the bun baking scene, eggs, flour and sugar, well done.

Sticking to the original story, it was great that there was no doubling up of the roles so that the cameos were well played as the actors could concentrate on the one role. Most notably was Paul Hanks’ Caterpillar who led the audience in ‘Always look on the Bright side of Life’ and then a trio of well costumed tea party participants who sang their way through ‘Busy doing Nothing’ Steve Jackson as the Mad Hatter, Jenny Lewis as the March Hare and Olivia Coote as the sleepy Dormouse. Megan Abbott was suitably arrogant and demanding as Queen of Hearts dominating the King of Hearts Rob Eves. She had an entertaining number along her Card Guards with ‘Bad Blood’. Who knew that the Mock Turtle could sing, this was a well danced and sung ‘Texas Hold’em, thanks Mikayla Coote. Initially lying down on the job was Sam Lord as Knobby the Door and a small band of card guards and dancers, I enjoyed the routine danced to Morning from the Peer Gynt Suite by Grieg.

Scene changes were smooth and trouble free, although the opening of act II saw the curtains open to an empty stage, presumably intentional, set design was colourful with the necessary props. Technically a few sound issues, crackles and some first words of dialogue missed however there was, good use of colours and lighting for the appearance of the Knave and Cheshire Cat. Spot lights were well placed. There were very good costumes throughout and make-up was very well done. For what was a show not in in the traditional pantomime style this an enjoyable evening’s entertainment. Well done to Kevin and his production team, good luck for tonight.

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