Christopher Wheeldon’s beautifully playful and faithful take on the classic story returns to charm audiences once more.
Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has been adapted in a variety of ways for stage and screen over the years but it seems best suited in ballet form as Christopher Wheeldon’s mesmerising production proves.
Beautifully faithful to the original text, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is wonderfully creative in terms of the choreography and visually, offering plenty for the children in the audience to enjoy as well as the ability to bring out the inner child of the adults as well.
Making the central character a teenager and making the gardener (who Alice has a close friendship with) into the Knave is a really clever aspect as it adds a sense of romanticism to proceedings that works well into the coming of age take on the story that this adaptation puts at the front of it all. This is an Alice who through her adventures is allowed to grow and develop and keeps the audience invested in her journey.
But thanks to Wheeldon’s beautifully thought out choreography which balances humour and playfulness with a sense of loneliness during Alice’s solo numbers to perfection as she tries to navigate this world in which she is unfamiliar.
This is well matched by Joby Talbot’s easy to enjoy score really enhances the story and mood perfectly as it all unfolds and really makes the most of the quirkiness of every situation that unfolds. I particularly enjoyed the way in which the Wonderland characters are shown in 1862 Oxford and through their movements you can actually tell who is going to emerge as who, making it very easy to follow.
Nicholas Wright and Christopher Wheeldon’s scenario is wonderfully faithful to the book (even with the addition of a romance between Alice and gardener/Knave), right down to the addition to the slightly unnerving scene in the kitchen of the Duchess which adds a sense of dark humour to proceedings and is the only moment which might unsettle younger viewers.
What is also so enthralling about this production is how it doesn’t use the same tricks twice – particularly visually, thanks to Bob Crowley’s designs which seem to imagine Wonderland in a way that is completely believable and charming. Every moment is captured perfectly including the use of puppetry to show how Alice falls down the hole, the mysterious Cheshire Cat and (no spoilers) the way Alice is made to look taller and shorter had me amazed in its creativity.
Of course certain scenes, such as the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party have to be reimagined to create even more movement and flow than the standard way it is portrayed, yet I felt as though it could have pushed the chaos of the scene further. This being said, I adored the way the way in which the build up to the court scene is done as well as the game of croquet with the flamingo puppets as mallets and hedgehogs as balls.
The cast were sublime in all of their different ways, led by (on the performance I saw) Francesca Hayward as Alice, capturing the character’s loneliness and isolation both in in Oxford and Wonderland perfectly as well as her development. Her dancing is captivating throughout. She was well matched by William Bracewell as the gardener Jack/ The Knave of Hearts whose charm is touching in every move, their chemistry sweetly romantic in every scene.
Elsewhere, Lauren Cuthbertson is commanding as both mother and the Queen of Hearts and you truly feel her presence no matter how far back you are sitting in the auditorium. Steven McRae is wonderfully playful as the Mad Hatter, while James Hay has a delightful nervous energy to his performance as the White Rabbit. But the whole cast add a sense of fun and energy to their performances that keep the audience captivated.
As a story, no matter what form you experience it in there is a quirkiness to the way in which it unfolds that might not make sense but…
“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.
“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”
“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.
“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.”
Sometimes a little bit of madness does us all the world of good – and in the case of this production it did.
By Emma Clarendon
To book tickets for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland at the Royal Opera House visit: https://www.rbo.org.uk/tickets-and-events/alices-adventures-in-wonderland-details
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐