This new adaptation of Alice in Wonderland packs a mountain of brilliance into a one-hour package full of delightful moments. The production is cohesive and unified; combining the princples of panto, puppetry, and physical theatre, the result is a slick and seamless visual feast which has jokes and fun moments for all ages, mixing the original Lewis Carroll text with contemporary references (and the odd groaner…it wouldn’t be a panto-style performance without it).
Particular stand outs were the use of physical theatre techniques to create the magic moments in the story; whether it is Alice falling down the well, her growing and shrinking, or the cartoonish relationship between characters, each beat of movement is filled with intention and consideration to create specific and thoughtful images.
This is accompanied by some fun and at times silly puppetry — my favourite of which was the unique way that the sea of tears was created.
Finally, the panto elements, staged so that the characters are “on the level” of the young audience speaking directly to them, the villainous Queen of Hearts simultaneously a panto Dame, Donald Trump, and Latrice Royale from Drag Race US, and silly pop song references — each of which contribute to the silly, fun, referential nature of the production.
This is children’s theatre done to perfection.