ALICE by Lewis Carroll adapted Adrian Mitchell. RSC
RSC
ALICE IN WONDERLAND AND THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
by Lewis Carroll, dramatised by Adrian Mitchell
Barbican Theatre to 24 November 2001, then Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon.
Runs 2hr 30min One interval
TICKETS 020 7638 8891
Review Timothy Ramsden 21 November 2001
Luscious but dull; the RSC flair is missing from this Carroll-by-numbers Christmas show.Take away their subsidy! Threaten them with prison. Then perhaps a dozen diehards may form a continuity RSC, working in secret locations, ever watchful for betrayal or attack, creating material under constant pressure and limitations. So, instead of big budget solutions, imagination will be called into play.
Instead, we have production values by the warehouse-full. Want another actor, need some more set? They shall be provided. Imagination is crushed in the process. The RSC can re-evaluate England's history, can produce a string of socially critical plays, but with a schizophrenia bordering on hypocrisy, come Christmas time they go all cuddly on us. Do they know who this show is for?
I'm not asking for Iron Alice, dry Brechtian bones and emotional engagement verboten. It is Christmas, after all. But if you're going to inhabit one of your major spaces with a classic through December/January, we need some reason to sally forth rather than staying at home with the book, or even the video.
All this production does is put scene after scene before us. It's moving book illustration, not a drama. So, we start with Carroll and friends rowing down the river, to a mellow, hazy song (it seems a principle of the music that melody peters out half-way through a stanza). A White Rabbit whisks across the stage. Alice follows as the boat and excess characters slide off stage right; in many ways this is a functional, old-fashioned staging.
Director Rachel Kavanaugh ought to be picked up by the RSC. She's done some fine Shakespeare in Regent's Park. But as her Guys and Dolls at Sheffield a year ago showed, she has limited flair for the big production number. So instead of Shakespeare, they give her the Christmas show at the RSC.
I hope they recall her for sterner duties. Meanwhile, with writers like Charles Way, Mike Kenny, Stuart Paterson, let alone Alan Ayckbourn, the normally new-play rich RSC might think of a piece that's less cosy for next year.
Well, one can hope.
Alice: Katherine Heath
Charles Dodgson//White Knight: Daniel Flynn
Canon Duckworth/Duck/Red Knight: Jamie De Courcey
Lorina/Lory: Rosie Craig
Edith/Eaglet: Laura Main
White Rabbit: Richard Henders
Mouse/Tweedledee: Adam Sims
Magpie/Seven of Spades: Sarah Quist
Canary/Cook: Fiona Dunn
Fury/Frog Footman/Horse: Paul Kissaun
Caterpillar/Ace of Clubs/White King: John Conroy
Father William/Duchess/Walrus: Robert Horwell
Youth/Tweedledum: Jamie Golding
Fish Footman: Christopher Key
Cheshire Cat/Tiger Lily: Sarah Redmond
March Hare/Haigha/Aged Aged Man: Martin Turner
Mad Hatter/Carpenter/Hatta: Chris Larner
Dormouse/White Queen: Marilyn Cutts
Queen of Hearts/Red Queen: Liza Sadovy
King of Hearts/Guard/Unicorn: John Hodgkinson
Knave of Hearts/Fawn: Dominic Marsh
Two of Spades/Beetle/Lion: Mark McLean
Five of Spades/Goat: Mitchell Moreno
Gryphon/Humpty Dumpty: Martyn Ellis
Mock Turtle/Gentleman in White Paper Suit/Red King: Paul Leonard
Director: Rachel Kavanaugh
Designer: Peter McIntosh
Lighting: Chris Davey
Sound: Andrew Bruce, Matt McKenzie
Music: Terry Davies, Stephen Warbeck
Movement: Linda Dobell
2001-11-25 01:11:25