Alice In Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass
Barbican Theatre Winter 2001-02

My seven-year-old companion loved the Royal Shakespeare Company's staging of the two Alice books. I was bored. And that's really all you have to know.

Adrian Mitchell's dramatisation, Rachel Kavanaugh's staging and Peter McKintosh's colourful design are all literal, episodic and familiar (with design bows toward both Tenniel and Disney) and, to my mind, strikingly unimaginative. But that is what kids want ­ familiar images presented in a clear way.

I saw the show in an audience filled with school groups, aged from about 8 to 15, and while there were few signs of enthusiasm (occasional bursts of laughter), there wasn't much restlessness either. My young friend was engrossed throughout and declared herself thoroughly satisfied afterwards; we had a long conversation in which she explained why I must be wrong in thinking Alice was played by a grown-up actress.

There are a few inventive variations to bemuse the adults. The Mad Hatter wears a tottering pile of bowlers rather than the familiar top hat, and the Cheshire Cat is a Lloyd Webber-type kitty reclining languidly on, and occasionally disappearing into a smile-shaped sofa.

But that last effect doesn't really work, and requires Alice's spoken description of what's happening to explain it; and the same is true of many of the other magical moments - falling down the rabbit hole, changing in size, etc - all of which depend too much on our being told what we're supposed to be seeing. That's one of my problems with the production: when it isn't being unimaginatively literal in its depictions of characters and episodes, its attempts at invention don't quite work.

The show is certainly not without its bright spots - a lugubrious Mock Turtle, perky (and surprisingly slim) Tweedledum and Tweedledee, impressively scary Jabberwocky, satisfyingly nasty Walrus and Carpenter (complete with Muppet-like oysters), and a couple of musical numbers that almost, but not quite catch fire: a music-hall version of Father William and the Lobster Quadrille. The music, by Terry Davis and Stephen Warbeck, creates another generation gap: my young companion was able to sing some of the songs the next day, while I found them all tuneless and unmemorable.

My young friend's reaction to Katherine Heath's Alice is testament to the success of her performance, so it is purely curmudgeonly of me to complain that I found her rather lifeless. I grant that Alice is a rather flat character to begin with, but since the adaptation requires continual direct address to the audience, I would have hoped for more panto-like rapport.

There are family shows that offer something, on different levels, for all ages, and others that are strictly for the kids. This Alice falls in the second category, and grown-ups may have to take most of their pleasure from watching the children's enjoyment.

Gerald Berkowitz

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Review - Alice In Wonderland - Barbican 2001