Review: ALICE IN WINTERLAND, Rose Theatre

With the success of last year's fantastical take on The Wind in the Willows, Kingston's Rose Theatre looks to another classic this year with Alice in Winterland, a new take on Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass.

Ciaran McConville's adaptation takes Alice's story to the aftermath of the First World War; her father has returned from battle, wounded and unable to look after his daughter any longer. Just as Alice is about to leave with her aunt to go to finishing school, she is visited by the White Rabbit, who asks for her help to save Wonderland from eternal winter.

On press night, Alice was played beautifully by Madeleine Lynes. She creates a character of great sensitivity and vulnerability, who must gather all her courage to save her friends from the evil Queen and save Wonderland and ultimately herself. There is nothing twee or sickly about her performance, just great honesty.

Susannah Van Den Berg really throws herself into the role of Queen of Hearts; she stamps and shrieks around the stage with a brilliant physicality and throaty richness to her voice.

The Rose always makes full use of the Rose Youth Theatre for its Christmas shows and the Blue Team on press night were in fine form. Millie Brownhill and Billy Rilot were bumbling and sweet as West Country bumpkins Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Francis Redfern is impressive as the controller of the head and voice of Bandersnatch and Rhea Norwood gives a standout performance as the eerily manic March Hare.

McConville obviously wants to create a darker side to the stories. There is a link hinted at between Alice's father, scarred from battle, and the Mad Hatter, scarred by madness. The same actor (an effective Daniel Goode) plays both roles, but any deep psychological connection will surely be lost on the younger members of the audience and isn't explored deeply enough to satisfy the adults. It is a nice twist that Alice becomes the hero of the piece, especially in the end heartwarming scenes with her father.

Although show is supposed to be based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass, some of the best parts of the books are left out or altered. The Mad Hatters' tea party is curiously unexciting and the White Rabbit is hardly seen. With two books so packed with incredible characters, any adaptation will inevitably have to leave some of them out, but it will be frustrating for fans of the books that iconic characters such as the (Blue) Caterpillar and the Mock Turtle are very small parts, Humpty Dumpty is nowhere to be seen, but 'winterland', penguins are added.

Eamonn O'Dwyer's music and lyrics are engaging and entertaining. The Queen of Hearts' song 'Off With Their Heads' is particularly good, mainly due to the energetic execution by Van Den Berg.

Timothy Bird's set and video design makes full use of the great width and height of the Rose stage, using most of the backdrop to project a wide variety of animated backgrounds. Alice's house seamlessly becomes the Queen's palace, the Blue Caterpillar's lair and the prison dungeon. When Alice flies through the air on the wings of the Bandersnatch is particularly effective.

Puppets play a large part of the show; some are more successful than others; the Bandersnatch is an impressively huge wolf-like creature with holographic wings who prowls around the stage, controlled very convincingly by four operators. The Duchess' piglet baby is also operated very well. Alice also becomes a small puppet when she shrinks, which is less impressive.

Much of the magic of Carroll's stories lie in his incredibly imaginative and lyrical language which is often missing here. Most of the dialogue is modern and fairly formulaic. The references to Carroll's magical creations are welcome, such as when the Blue Caterpillar recites some of Jabberwocky, but these are over all too quickly.

This is an engaging production, with some very good performances, especially from the Rose Youth Theatre. It looks and sounds great, but a little more of the original language and chaos would be welcome.

Alice in Winterland is at Rose Theatre until 7 January 2018

Photo Credit: Mark Douet

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