Alice's Wonderbra

As indicated by the title this was a Society-written adult pantomime, based loosely on the original story.

There were some good performances, but I felt that at some points the narrative was too graphic – some things are best left to innuendo and imagination.  That said, it was very funny, and there were some cleverly written scenes.

I feel that once again I cannot let a review go by without mentioning the occasionally bad-mannered audience.  Loud personal conversation, late arrival, and continual exodus to the loo is detrimental to other members of the audience enjoyment. 

Lighting was good, very imaginative, and with just a single backdrop the piece relied on clever lighting.  I liked the fact that the doors and rabbit hole entrance were non-existent, it just added more fun to the proceedings.

Sound was very good until the finale, when it was very difficult to hear the solo lines, not sure what happened there, but suddenly the band seemed very loud, and whilst it was fine when everyone was singing, the individual lines were a little lost.

The MD had chosen some interesting music, with the Director providing the words, which were clever and amusing.  The cast as a whole sang the numbers well, and the band accompanied well.

I felt Act 1 continued for a little too long, whereas Act 2 was shorter, it would perhaps have been better to find a cut-off point sooner, to level the two halves out a bit!

I was not entirely sure about the costumes, some were good, others not quite in keeping with an adult panto, and needed a little attention.

I was very impressed with Ben Jaggers, he seemed to pop up in most scenes, and his opening stand up routine was very funny, I particularly liked the shock factor of the Nutella joke!!  Ben also provided a convincing baby and was not afraid to get most of his kit off, even though he was covered up by playing cards some of the time.  I felt he really threw himself into the production headlong!  The JV scene was also very well written and achieved, Ben seems to have a wealth of characters at his disposal!  Very well done.

Anna Woods also impressed as Alice, she seemed to be comfortable in the part, performed and sang really well.  I liked her relationship with the Mad Hatter, played by the irrepressible Josh Thompson, whose musical numbers were also good.

Luke Murphy played a superbly camp March Hare, great fun, and a good contrast to the Mad Hatter.  I enjoyed his dance number!  Nicely costumed throughout.

Debbie Cavanagh and Hannah Synan-Jones as the addictive caterpillar and Dormouse (dressed bizarrely as a bee/butterfly), gave good contrasting performances.

TweedleTrump and TweedleKim were played by Katy Elliott and Robin Edwards respectively.  I really enjoyed this pairing, and thought Katy got the Trump character really well, the writing cleverly utilising all his worst faux pas, with Robin providing an almost silent but very expressive character, very good!

The Buttons character played by Paul Rogers was extremely annoying, which I am sure he was meant to be, accomplished with great aplomb and a dodgy costume back view.

Nico Bamford created a good character, with a small speech impediment, as the King, he is always very nimble and was able to use this characteristic, as well as reacting to his Queen, played really well by Peri Lynn, who achieved great speed of delivery throughout, no lack of pace when she was on-stage!  A very good portrayal.

Chloe Badham as the White Rabbit with attitude was very good, I enjoyed her Sit Down number too, and her choreography was quite imaginative, a little too full-on at times, easy for the cast to run away with naughtiness!!  The delivery of her baby was extremely funny, I particularly appreciated the hat out of a rabbit joke!

Finally we had Dee Lovelock as the Cheshire Cat, keeping the audience in tune with what was going on, and delivering her own brand of rather wry humour, which suited her and the piece, extremely well done.

The ensemble backed the principals well, and really entered into the spirit of an adult panto.

Adult panto from Griffins is always a good end to the panto season, and whilst I mostly enjoyed it, I would have liked a little more to have been left to my imagination, and less explained in graphic detail, that said it was very funny and some cleverly written passages and lyrics gave it an edge.

The finale was nicely managed as an essentially ensemble piece, which is what this was at the end of the day!

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