Alice adventures not in the traditional wonderland but on the London underground in this reshuffle by Poltergeist theatre company set along the Victoria line. It’s a smartly offbeat proposition for Lewis Carroll’s circular narrative as this venue is near Brixton station – both start and end of that line – and the tube brings its own world of codes and rules.
“See it, slay it, sorted” reads one sign on Shankho Chaudhuri’s set – referring to Carroll’s Jabberwocky – and lead writer Jack Bradfield has fun punning around the tube map. Using the play’s own nonsense language, here’s the plot: Alice is not very Poplar, becomes a Walthamstowaway on the underground and prays to the Seven Sisters she’ll make it home before Knightsbridge.
This Victoria line has its own Queen and the passengers running late include a newspaper-reading Rabbit (Khai Shaw) with suit jacket and fluffy tail. As Brixton schoolgirl Alice, Nkhanise Phiri is a maelstrom of 11-year-old emotions: huffy, funny, cheeky and, naturally, ever-curious. She’s reading Carroll’s classic at school and after encountering footie fans Dee and Dum (Will Spence and Rosa Garland) she spells out similarities with the other Alice’s wonderland.
While older audiences keep track of these references and alterations, such a radical overhaul risks distancing younger fans of the novel and scenes including the tea party get a flat treatment. Children who hardly know the book may be baffled by an often tricksy script where much seems inconsequential without sufficient knowledge of the source material. The play intrigues for how it adapts Carroll rather than as a standalone adventure.
There’s a signal failure in the messaging as Alice’s mission to “break the loop” and stop her pals from being turned into commuters is not fully elucidated for the youngest in its recommended age range (over-sevens). But the casual crankiness in Carroll’s book, and Alice’s bafflement at her surroundings, transfer well to this schoolgirl’s everyday life, swerving bullies and navigating her parents’ separation. Magic is spun from the theatre’s doorstep too as a tortoise inquires if Electric Avenue market sells vegetables glowing like lightbulbs.
Gerel Falconer’s dynamic rap lyrics complement the script, especially in a climactic battle between Alice and her mum (Toyin Ayedun-Alase). With a creepy lighting design (Rajiv Pattani) matching an eerie soundscape (Alice Boyd), Bradfield’s production harnesses the cacophony of tube travel to create a treacherous realm: “mind the gap” has seldom sounded so ominous.
At Brixton House, London, until 31 December
