Thinking about family shows in general and Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s new adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel in particular, I was about to write: “If there is any theatrical pleasure greater than watching children’s reactions to a Christmas show, I have yet to discover it.” In the time it took my fingers to stretch out to the keyboard, memory intervened: “What about all those tragedies, comedies, musicals, puppet shows, improvs...?” OK, OK – they’re all different but equal. So, what makes sharing a performance with younger people special? Maybe it’s that, in the immediacy of their responses, their willingness to join in, their fidgeting distraction when confronted by condescension or “arty” artificiality, they sharpen our focus.
As focused via the young audience’s reactions at the pre-press performance I attended, this production certainly entertains. Simple objects, by stimulating spectators’ imaginations, create fantastical effects (Michael Vale’s design). Two instances: Sarah Vezmar’s Alice clings to a hoop suspended from a string – turns, stretches, twists – and seems to tumble down a rabbit hole; Russell Morton’s Caterpillar flutters three differently coloured hoops at his back and transforms into Butterfly. Live music (composed by performer Barbara Hockaday) provides stimulation of a more physical kind; the seven-strong cast incorporates horns, keyboards, percussion into the song-strewn action and sets small bums seat-bouncing, adult toes tapping.
Overall, though, the production doesn’t so much hold attention as consistently recapture it. Partly this is a temporary, settling-in thing, and director Elizabeth Newman will soon sharpen up slow scene changes and lack of group focus. Partly, Malcolm hasn’t been entirely successful in fitting her framing device to the story. Alice, here, is a shy schoolchild who, through adventures encountered while chasing the class’s pet rabbit, finds her individual voice. This intruded moral fable element induces most fidgeting; the closer to Carroll the text stays, the greater the fun.
