AMATEUR THEATRE REVIEW: Alice In Wonderland - NWTAC Theatre, Moston. Manchester.

Theatre kids are always theatre kids, and no matter what their director throws at them, they approach the material with zeal and always give of their best, as this evening's production of the rather dated and somewhat trite story of 'Alice In Wonderland' attested. There was a rather clever and original twist at the end though...!

Sticking rather rigidly (fot the most part at least) to the Victorian novel by Lewis Carroll, the play had the feeling of being both stuck in a certain era / genre - almost as a kind of homage to the novelist - as well as being alive and fresh as these youngsters and teenagers put their own particular spins on the well-known characters. It's a curious story, full of allegory and hidden meanings, and seems to belong to a bygone time; I've never really understood its continued appeal in our modern contemporary society.

There were some extremely clever ideas which worked excellently this evening under Prab Singh's direction. I loved the idea of a screen at the rear to help with certain images and ideas within the script that would not have been possible to create otherwise. And utilising TWO Alices, one a rather taller than average girl, whilst the other was the exact opposite, in order to create the illusion of shrinking and growing again was simply genius!

A couple of things worked less well though. First, vocal amplification would certainly have helped as even on the second row I was struggling to hear much of the dialogue. Alfie Cook's Mad Hatter being the only character on stage, for me at least, whose vocality was loud, clear, and correctly measured all the time. Coming in at a close second was the diminutive Alice, Isabella Horricks, whose unwavering characterisation - somewhere between irritation and acquiescence - worked very much in her favour. Second, I found it difficult to understand what animals were being represented at times, due to some strange make-up and insufficient costuming. In each case an attempt to make an approximation of the animal / costume was made, and some worked better than others, but unless you knew the story then you'd have had no idea that at the croquet match the players used flamingos to hit hedgehogs for example. 

The taller Alice was played by Lily Ife, again, pitching her character somewhere between petulence and acceptance. Lacey McDermott impressed as the White Rabbit, late for a very important date. Olivia Anderson's March Hare and Miley Kennedy's Dormouse worked well with the Mad Hatter and their tea party scene was nicely performed. Tallulah McDermott deserves a special mention for her laconic and sluggardly Mock Turtle, whilst Stephanie Canavan's Cheshire cat was just the opposite.

Credit must also go the other roles: Duchess (Lilly Taylor), Queen Of Hearts (Georgia Anderson), and King Of Hearts (Shannon Ryan), along with a talented ensemble of smaller cameo roles.  Congratulations to all involved.

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 22.10.22