Alice by Heart

As the name indeed suggests, this is a re-working of Lewis Carroll’s much-loved Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Created almost 160 years ago, Carroll was even then accused of indulging in too many magic mushrooms to create the outlandish series of stories. It is no wonder as it peopled with exaggerated characters in increasingly weird and outrageous situations conversing in language peppered with silly puns, word-play and made-up words, and it might even be said that this version takes this hallucinogenic notion a few steps further.

Using the intimacy of the Townsville Civic Theatre’s 200-seat C2 performance space, we are placed in a grubby underground station (Kensington, London) during a Second World War air raid. The beginning was atmospheric as we take in the environment, complete with reproductions of WW2 posters and prior to the show’s starting historic radio broadcasts of how to wear a gas mask and what to do in an air raid are heard through the theatre sound system.

Then we are introduced to the “real” characters and the somewhat flimsy premise of a young teen, Alice Spencer and her best friend, Alfred (who is suffering from tuberculosis) being forced to take shelter in an underground station during an air raid. Alfred is quarantined and Alice urges him to escape with her into their precious book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and travel down the rabbit hole.

While this plot foundation is interesting, it is somewhat erratic and if any fault is to be found then it is with the script and neither with the performances nor the playing.  Indeed, the script has the hallmarks of a workshopped production and this is both its strength and failing.

With the exception of the lead character, the strength lies in the opportunities for the cast to create two (or more characters) – one “real” and one (or several) “fantastical”.

Where the script fails is to find a way to deliver an emotionally powerful message. There is a mixture of lightness and darkness which does not help in drawing the parallels between war-torn 1940s London and Wonderland. These are at best tenuous and at worst confusing. Is Wonderland a light wonderful place, or is it full of dark wonder?

What begins realistically becomes more progressively exaggerated as we dip into the realms of Wonderland and director Sandra Neal has excelled by creating a production brimful of outstanding singing with many little details adding her imaginative approach – most particularly props and costumes subtly making links between the two worlds. 

This production was also imbued with the strongest sense of ensemble I have seen in a local musical for some time, and every single member of the 19-strong cast stepped up to the challenge in terms of character creation, energy and commitment to the project.

It does help to have more than a passing knowledge of the original work, but, as they say, the secret is in the playing! And this is where the success of this production lies – the cast!

In a far cry from her outstanding emotive performance in last year’s production of Chess, Jakaya Drysdale is the title character. Rarely offstage, this was a sustained performance which gave her plenty of scope to display her strong vocal range. With no distinction between the “real” Alice and the “fantasy” Alice, this allowed Jakaya the opportunity to have her “Alice” lose the traditional blandness and display sparks of feistiness.

Ben Henderson as Alfred also doubles as the White Rabbit. This young actor gains with every performance he gives.

It was really good to see Sonia Warrell in two roles where she could strut her stuff. As the Red Cross Nurse she was the personification of those formidable grande dames of the nursing corps who scare the living daylights out of all and sundry. So it was a natural progression to her over-the-top Queen of Hearts screeching at and terrifying all around her. A dominating and entertaining performance.

Luke Reynolds managed to discreetly suggest the alcoholism of his Dr Butridge, who transforms into an effete King of Hearts.  I particularly liked the link with his “real” character suggested by the King’s crown. His song Brillig Braelig as the Jabberwocky gave a dark and sinister take on a Carroll character which – despite the original nonsense poetry – could quite easily have been the inspiration for Star Wars’ Jabba the Hutt!

Sam Stewart is an actor with a strong physical stage presence. His “real” character sees him as what was then called a “shellshocked soldier” and some of those qualities were brought into an energetic and frenetic take on the Mad Hatter. An impressive performance.

In his first performance in Townsville, Mitchell Pearce gave an energetic take on the normally “sleepy and lazy” Dormouse, and Josie Power as the Cheshire Cat (outstanding vocals in her song Some Things Fall Away).

With two people playing the Caterpillar, Cohan Russell and Amaya Lejarraga gave a sinister side to the character, introducing Alice to a way to “change time”. Adrian Corbett and Nathan Butler had good comic turns respectively as the Mock Turtle and the Duchess.

And while these performances have been singled out, what is most important is that the ensemble work was outstanding. The vocals and choreography were all delivered with precision and understanding.

Call me old-fashioned, but it would seem that in the last few years contemporary musicals have been strong on story and delivery and light on memorable music. Few have outstanding songs that would either stand alone without the context of the show, or have you humming as you leave. Having said that, Luke Gallagher navigated the Alice By Heart score admirably with his seven-piece offstage band.

In summary, if there is one reason to see this show, it is the cast!

Trevor Keeling

Photographer: Alex Doherty