IT ALL BEGINS with a bit of masked and gloved mystique that gets even the littlest of littlies focused on the stage. That is the kind of magical lure you will experience in this version of Alice in Wonderland, that graces the stage this season. And it’s a rollocking, mesmerising achievement from beginning to end, with complex subtleties and panto-style audience exchanges to keep everyone’s interests alive.
Director Néka da Costa assisted by Daniel Buckland have teased open the well-heeled Victorian classic and with bits of contemporary jibes here and there, and local punts peppering the mix, the work is funny and sweet, wild and audacious and supremely entertaining. Many snips have been applied to the tale itself, which leaves the more challenging aspects of changing pigs into babies (or vice versa) for the readers of the book. This doesn’t hurt the production one tad, in fact, it strengthens it. Working with what can be created with simple stage magic, the work runs with slickness that will have even that old die-hard who has seen Alice a million times, chuckling into her sleeve. And it will have the baby in the audience, laughing from his pram, at the magnificent spectacle of light and colour.
It’s a fascinating transformation: the cast is the same as the production of the same tale that was performed in this theatre complex four years ago. Each is more comfortable in their body, more developed in their ability to flick-flack between characters and present madness at its most joyous and unself-aware. It’s very special to be able to see performers mature before one’s eyes, contributing meaningfully to and investing soul in the very important genre of children’s theatre, as they are.
And then, there are the costumes. With her inimitable pizzazz, production designer Sarah Roberts takes the essentials of characters, be they a rabbit or a queen, and magicks them into poetic and thoughtful life. No grown-up sized onesies here, but rather an internalisation of characterhood, which, with two flicks of a kitten’s tale, enables this cast of just four to give life to the whole madcap saga, penned by Lewis Carroll in the 19th century. Costumes vary between household bits and bobs and head coverings, but the best achievement is of course, the frock of the Duchess herself. Not to forget the Queen. Of course.
But let us not overlook the Cheshire cat. Too delicious to be interpreted by a single actor, this cynical and wise beast with a smile bigger than his body is interpreted by a puppet and two performers, to fantastic effect. He’s cruel and hilarious, viciously intelligent and ever-present in the ways in which any purple self-respecting Cheshire cat should be.
In short, Alice in Wonderland capitalises on the total joyous insanity presented in this well-loved children’s classic. It’s about being able to do and say the most outrageous things in a society pinned together with close moral values and it will make you laugh all the way home. A really worthy start to the theatre year in Gauteng. Don’t miss this one!
- Alice in Wonderland is written by Lewis Carroll and adapted for stage and directed by Néka da Costa, assisted by Daniel Buckland. It features design by Sarah Roberts (set, props and costumes) and Luke Draper (lighting) and is performed by Gugu Dhlamini, Sandi Dlangalala, Danny Meaker and Nyeleti Ndubane at the Pieter Toerien Theatre, Montecasino in Fourways, Johannesburg, until 4 February 2024.