CURIOUSER and curiouser. Not only the psychedelica of Alice In Wonderland, but the first name of Brainerd Duffield, the writer of this suitably vertiginous stage adaptation of Lewis Carroll's surrealist trip into the mad, strange world of Alice, aged 17 and a half.
Brainerd is a boy's name that apparently means "bold raven", and a bold raven must be pretty much the only creature missing from Carroll's exotic coterie of wild, weird and wonderful characters.
Director Gemma McDonald is working with a predominantly young cast, recalling the days of the Rowntree Youth Theatre that once fed the Rowntree Players. Now they tend to take their first steps in the Players' pantomime, and there is something of the panto spirit to McDonald's show. The Players wanted to "bring that same scale, colour and chaos into their summer season" and they have done exactly that.
Finn Ella as the Mad Hatter in Rowntree Players' Alice In Wonderland
"It really is the strangest production I’ve ever wrangled into shape,” the director told The Press, and this wrangling into shape is built on the cornerstones of four pantomime regulars: Daisy Blue Ella, Finn Ella, Marie-Louise Surgenor and Graham Smith.
Daisy Blue's Alice, in blonde bob, striped tights and teenage party dress, is veering towards Steam Punk's dress code and plays up the wilful teen rather than the innocent child.
Finn's lanky Mad Hatter, cup and saucer never leaving his hands, is a comic delight; experienced principal Surgenor, latterly no stranger to roles on the dark side, makes the most of the Queen of Hearts' every utterance of "Off with her head", while wearing a wonderful necklace made from cards; Smith reins in his panto-dame brand of mayhem for more controlled nuttiness as the King of Hearts.
Duffield's structure embraces multiple vignettes, familiar Lewis Carroll poems, such as The Jabberwocky, and ensemble set-pieces. Chances are plentiful for cast members to shine, ranging from Cari Hughes's March Hare and Sara Howlett's White Rabbit to Hannah Temple's Red Queen and Beth Hutchinson and Laura Bailey's Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Particularly eye-catching is cheeky Dan Jackson's cracking good Humpty Dumpty.
Leni Ella and Pam Davies's costumes and Lorina Mills's make-up are fabulous too, so don't be late, book for this important date.
Alice In Wonderland, Rowntree Players, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight at 7.30pm; tomorrow, 2pm and 7.30pm. Box office: 07927 026071 or at rowntreeplayers.co.uk
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