ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS. To 15 August.
Tour
ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
by Lewis Carroll adapted by Jonathan Petherbridge
London Bubble Tour to 15 August 2004
7.30pm (afternoon workshops, where applicable 3.30pm-4.30pm)
BSL Signed 17 July Manor Park Farm Ruislip
22 July Southwark Park
Runs c2hr 20min One interval
TICKETS: 020 7237 1663
Review: Timothy Ramsden 16 July at Manor Park Farm, Ruislip
Quietly satisfying entertainment on a warm summer eve, from a book that's more difficult to stage than might at first seem.Both Alice' books contain so many ingredients of an enticing theatre show it becomes easy to miss that they don't easily transplant from the privacy of the page to make a satisfactory theatrical concoction. The strong character of their separate incidents means a string of them in quick succession form an overdose of rich ingredients, which only a firm overall theatrical concept could make digestible.
Out on their regular walking tour of London's open spaces, Bubble creates a solid Victorian middle-class world through a pre-show routine of dinner and languid recitations, before the mirror on the wall dislodges to reveal strange creatures. Alice follows them through a revolving space where the mirror had been, and we're off exploring strange events in glades and open spaces.
There are fantastications of character and costume, from a multi-headed Tiger Lily near the start to a talking pudding on the family table at the end. But the stories were written by a mathematician; their looking-glass settings and wild logic frame a down-to-earth speech style - quite often a Victorian talking down to child style. Minnie Crowe's resilient Alice quietly withstands people who, like adults, are so certain of things that seem strange a child.
Tramping through the woodland gives opportunities to pass strange creatures, not to mention a You Are Here' chessboard map. There is forceful work from the Red and White Queens, local bullies in royal dress. There's even an interval delegation of Bishops, who go on to picket during act two in protest at the lack of clerical input to events.
Such details indicate Jonathan Petherbridge's usual lightness of hand in adaptation and production. There's a lively energy which keeps cloying cuteness at bay. He doesn't quite establish the overall chessboard scheme till late on but the walk to various locations matches the episodic adventures. There's a fine comic ding-dong with the book-flinging Tweedles whose oysters consist of audience hands placed in socks, and a sense of repose as we return to the opening scene and the safety of parlour routine for when Alice, chessboard by her side, wakes from her dream.
Aunt/House/White Queen: Angie Bain
Maid/Daisy/Dancing Fish/Frog: Nicole Charles
Alice: Minnie Crowe
Sister/Violet/Egg: Rachel Essex
White King/Newspaper Man/Pudding: Richard Fletcher
Red Pawn/Larkspur/Tweedledum/Lion/Leg of Mutton: Charlie Folorunsho
Governess/Red Queen/Sheep: Janet Jefferies
Red Knight/Tiger Lily/ Tweedledee/Humpty Dumpty: Nick Khan
Uncle/Goat/Shelf/White Knight/Stunt Sheep: Eric MacLennan
Mother/Rose/Nurse/Shelf/Dancing Fish/Haigha: Sophie Russell
Father/Red Knight/Unicorn: Matthew Woodyatt
Director: Jonathan Petherbridge
Designer: Becky Hurst
Lighting: Peter Higton
Music: Craig Byrne
Movement: Linda Dobell
2004-07-17 12:30:08