Presented by DEM Productions, this reimagined 2016 adaptation of Alice in Wonderland by Penny Farrow, now playing at the Marylebone Theatre, is a visual feast that has played to over 100,000 audience members across the world. Focusing on the familiar moments in Alice in Wonderland, this captivating production runs slickly at just an hour and is aimed at a 5-plus audience.
Curiouser and curiouser! Farrow’s adaptation has indeed made some curious text choices, some of which work, some of which seem gratuitous; and draws from various of Lewis Carroll’s source materials including Alice in Wonderland, Alice Through the Looking Glass, and The Hunting of the Snark.
For the younger audience, Farrow’s redefined version captures the fun of Carroll’s language, where “fights and folly, noise and nonsense, rhymes with no reason,” reign supreme, while for the adults, references to Kier Starmer’s “humble beginnings”, and the Queen of Hearts declaring in a Trump-like way that she will “buy Greenland because I am royalty,” adds some pop culture.
To look at, this production is breathtaking. The audience are transported to the kaleidoscopic world of Wonderland by Nate Bertone’s phantasmagoric set which includes huge mushrooms, flying playing cards and a glowing keyhole.
The fantastical creatures of Wonderland are represented by a variety of ingenious larger-than-life puppets created by Chris Barlow, and bolstered by equally sumptuous costumes by Zoe Burt. Alice’s shrinking is effectively shown as her “Drink Me” bottle increases in size each time she takes a sip.
Under the direction of Bertone, some elements of the text feel rushed, which is not helped due to poor diction by some of the actors. Most significantly, the production slightly loses its way in the key central Mad Hatter scene because the actors speed through their dialogue, making it incoherent even to me, who is familiar with Carroll’s nonsensical text.
The Queen of Hearts’ scenes also create a slight imbalance within the show because they are so dominant, and divert the production from being a co-created ensemble piece to one that seemed more focused on shaping a starring role for the actor playing the Queen.
The cast is led by Charlotte Bradley as a very likeable and whimsical Alice, Clare Brice is suitably strung-out as the White Rabbit, while Eddie Ahrens is magnetic as the Cheshire Cat. Katriona Brown as Tweedle Dum and Skye Hallam as Tweedle Dee brilliantly capture the childish competitiveness of the portly twins, and Daniel Page steals the show as the “Slay Queen” of Hearts.
Listings and ticket information can be found here
