Lewis in Wonderland is, as you might hope from a play about Charles Dodgson and his most famous books, a very curious thing. It's straightforwardly biographical, in that it shows us something of the author's struggle to fit in with staid, repressive Oxford society, but it's also wonderfully fantastical. Scenes from Dodgson's life meld with vignettes from Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass: parishioners in his local church morph into the Queen of Hearts and her pitiful courtiers; silly gossips at a party suddenly transform into the talking flowers. Particularly moving is the moment when Dodgson himself becomes the White Knight, escorts Alice to the edge of Wonderland and sadly watches her leave him behind.
It's far too easy for biographical plays to become bogged down in a heap of facts; what the young company Naked Productions realises, however, is that imagination counts for much more. By ignoring chronology and concentrating instead on the essence of Lewis Carroll's books, they communicate everything you need to know about the man hidden behind them. The cast of seven, directed by Ed Clarke and winningly choreographed by Jenefer Hughes, show real ingenuity in the way they bend their bodies into different characters and turn an Oxford river into Wonderland's sea of tears. By the end, you feel remarkably sympathetic to Dodgson - and long to read his books again.
· Until August 24. Box office: 0870 745 3083.
