Tag Archives: Rebecca Wilson

ALICE IN WONDERLAND

★★★★★

Brixton House

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ALICE IN WONDERLAND at Brixton House

★★★★★

“a breath-taking instant classic for the London festive season”

What is at the end of the Victoria line? Rap battles and the Jabberwocky.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll is a classic book beloved by children and adults alike. Finding a first edition copy is as rare as finding chicken teeth. Finding yet another stage adaptation that actually feels new and exciting proves more challenging. What Poltergeist and writer-director Jack Bradfield have achieved with this unapologetic adaptation is jaw dropping. Alice in Wonderland is one and a half hours of boundary-busting theatre made by Londoners for Londoners. This iteration of the well-known story is so perfect in concept and execution that it makes you wonder why it hasn’t been done before.

Set in current day Brixton, 11-year-old Alice (Tatenda Matsvai) has a fight with her mum (Cheyenne Dasri) in Brixton tube station and jumps onto the Victoria line by herself. This sets off a tube journey into the world of nonsense where Alice realises that she is trapped on a train with the inhabitants of Wonderland. We meet familiar characters such as the White Rabbit, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, and many more. In addition, we also meet people who Londoners will recognise instantly. This includes the commuters, ‘undergounders’ who have been on the tube for so long that they have lost their souls. The cast do an astounding job multi-rolling; their transitions are so smooth that you might only notice they are playing multiple roles in the second act. A standout here is Gavin Dunn who impressively alters his voice and physicality between playing The Rabbit, The Pigeon and Hammersmith (Yes, like the tube station – you need to see it to believe it).

Lyricist and Rapperturg, Gerel Falconer has created songs with composer and sound designer Alice Boyd that breathes new life into the familiar story, making space for this iteration to distinguish its own language. The audience is treated to rap solos and rap battles between characters, reminding us that London is a cultural wonderland. The composition of the sounds of Brixton and the underground are so clean that you can eat your dinner from it. A total treat for the ears! (Not only bunny ears).

‘Overgounder’ Alice travels down a rabbit hole of bottomless London Underground puns and immersive set design (Shankho Chaudhuri). You enter the theatre, and you are met by a recreation of a Victoria line carriage. The benches are covered in Victoria line fabric and the wall boasts posters like ‘The Jabberwocky is watching‘ and ‘See it, slay it, sorted’, immediately enforcing the idea that this is no ordinary tube line. The stage has a catwalk layout with the audience on either side. An entrance and exit on either end of the catwalk creates the illusion that the train has no beginning or an end. It is from these boundless tunnels that new and familiar characters emerge, creating expectation for what else is to come. It is impressive how well the set design is integrated into the script with trap doors that lead to the ominous wasteland ‘The Gap’ and lowering light rigs that become the tops of train carriages. The composition between lights, sound and set within the story is so clever and funny that you only need to sit back and enjoy this feast of a performance.

How will Alice ever escape the tube in time for Christmas? With rap battles, sword fights and dance breaks, Alice in Wonderland is a breath-taking instant classic for the London festive season. I wish more London theatre makers could embrace ridiculous ideas and execute them as flawlessly as this. All aboard for this highly imaginative, hilarious, and exhilarating tube journey down the Brixton rabbit hole!


ALICE IN WONDERLAND at Brixton House

Reviewed on 26th November 2024

by Lara van Huyssteen

Photography by Helen Murray

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More reviews by Lara:

THE SNOWMAN | ★★★★ | PEACOCK THEATRE | November 2024
GOING FOR GOLD | ★★★★ | PARK THEATRE | November 2024

ALICE IN WONDERLAND

ALICE IN WONDERLAND

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Nuns

Nuns
★★★

Tristan Bates Theatre

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Nuns

Nuns

Tristan Bates Theatre

Reviewed – 17th January 2019

★★★

 

“this play, written for a stonking all-female cast, perhaps needed a bit more darkness, a bit more bite”

 

This all-female cast and crew production is fun, dynamic and crowd-pleasing. A strong cast of four, directed by Charlotte Everest, brought Robert Luxford’s sometimes witty, energetic script to life, making some bold and engaging staging and performance choices. But a truncated flow in stage action and occasionally restrictive episodic structure mean it sacrifices humorous depth for giggling shallows.

Natalya Wolter-Ferguson, Cecile Sinclair and Rebecca Wilson are a terrific trio: perfectly balanced, wonderfully varied and each with their own outrageous showcase moment, they were a joy to watch. I found their commitment and passion exciting, and their clear support of one another inspiring. All embraced the challenges which their parts required, and the result was three female performers being free, uninhibited and brave onstage. Gillian Broderick joins the action later, but her reputation precedes her as the infamous Mother Superior, who turns out not to be so superior after all. Broderick adds a new flavour to the plot, and she played the inscrutable, but ultimately liberally persuadable, nun with growing conviction and nuance as the play progressed. The cast enjoyed themselves, which was reflected back at them in the auditorium.

Luxford’s script has clear intentions, which you can read immediately in the show’s aesthetic, and the performers’ characterisation: camp, mellow shock, sex and silliness – all habit-forming stuff. But each scene is so contained that the narrative never quite moved beyond stereotype. I was particularly frustrated by Mother Superior’s rousing speech about the church’s misogyny, in which the first example she used was that make-up is perceived as problematic. This dissection never quite unravelled and complexified to such an extent that the little shocks of the show amounted to the feeling of anything beyond being tickled. Being tickled is fine, but this play, written for a stonking all-female cast, perhaps needed a bit more darkness, a bit more bite.

Tara Usher’s set design is excellent. It perfectly frames, frills and sasses up the Tristan Bates space, with a gloriously kitsch combo of electric neon, which accents model angel wings and a garish central cross, and baby pink and blue velvet bedsheets, adorned with simpering Christs. It creates the perfect realm for playful debauchery, and Everest’s direction comes to its own when she incorporates the bed as the centrepiece of the Sisters’ lusty confusion. Sally McCulloch’s lighting design, using torches and creating different moods and textures with isolated neon lights, is inventive and thoughtful. However, much as I thought the sound choices were second to nun (not a typo; what a playlist), a couple of the tracks could have been cut, to let the dialogue and performances speak. Recorded voices illuminating context and offering different perspectives on nuns within the church were a nice touch, but used a little too frequently: pairing them with blackouts at points furthered the script’s feeling of incompleteness.

Nuns was met with a warm audience reception. The production team have made a production which is worth seeing, for its creative vivacity and committed performances.

 

Reviewed by  Eloïse Poulton

Photography by XXXXXXXXXX

 


Nuns

Tristan Bates Theatre until 26th January

 

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:
The Gulf | ★★★ | April 2018
San Domino | ★★ | June 2018
The Cloakroom Attendant | ★★★ | July 2018
Echoes | ★★★★★ | August 2018
Love Lab | ★★★★ | August 2018
Butterfly Lovers | ★★ | September 2018
The Problem With Fletcher Mott | ★★★★ | September 2018
Sundowning | ★★★★ | October 2018
Drowned or Saved? | ★★★★ | November 2018
Me & My Left Ball | ★★★★ | January 2019

 

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