(Celia Meiras as Alice in the 2005 World premiere, photo from Theatrebristol.net)
Simon Reade’s Alice’s adventures in Wonderland adaptation premiered in Bristol at the Old Vic in 2005, before being revived 9 years later. In between these two productions was one outdoor amateur performance and a low key American premiere.
Its a massive shame that productions of this script don’t come around very often. Because it is very well done indeed.
After an argument with her Sister about responsibilities (think of the 1985 Irwin allen miniseries and you’re not far off) Alice is surprised to see her toy white rabbit transform into a fully grown, massive one. Not only is it alive, it is carrying a pocket watch and mutters about being late. Fed up with reality anyway, Alice follows it and soon finds herself in a strange world very far from home…
Unlike in other adaptations, Reade’s Alice quickly regrets that decision. His version of Alice is somewhat immature and fearful, not that she can’t hold her own against the Queen of Hearts of course. Wonderland here is represented as marvelous but also frightening. A lot like the original novel actually. There is a beautiful garden but there is the Queen of Hearts. There is the mad tea party but there is also the Gryphon, who in this version is also the executioner.
Reade also does an excellent job of updating the dialogue- not quite to modern parlance but just to update the more archaic Victorian language, so an audience of children aren’t confused. So the Caterpillar’s “Are you content now?” line from the book becomes “Are you happy with your size now?”
But don’t worry, Carroll’s poems still remain entact as ever. In an unusual move, Reade ditches the Fury said to a mouse poem and instead opts for Carroll’s manuscript poem for the mouse: “We lived beneath the mat…”
.Alice is arrested by the Queen of Hearts at the croquet game which gives Reade a unique opportunity to set the Mock Turtle’s story and Lobster Quadrille scenes in a prison. Complete with imprisoned mock turtle.
Another interesting aspect of this adaptation is the fact the Knave of Hearts doesn’t exist. This means that the trial scene is reworked to become Alice’s trial, accused of disturbing Wonderland and its residents. Alice’s argument with the Queen of Hearts strangely resembles her argument with her Sister back in the real world at the start of the play. To emphasis this fact, some stagings of this script have had Alice’s sister also play the role of the Queen of Hearts.
Alice denys the crimes and accuses the Queen of misinterpreting the evidence. Which is true. As you can imagine, this does not go down well with either the court or the Queen.
Alice is actually lead to a guillotine by the Gryphon-turned executioner at the climax, one of the darkest that I’ve seen in a stage adaptation.
Thankfully, Alice wakes seconds afterwards. Fearful, she sings a verse from Carroll’s all in the golden afternoon preface poem before realizing that it was in fact, all a dream.
The last scene shows Alice as a adult, with a child of her own, harking back to the final paragraph of Carroll’s novel. Alice’s child plays with the toy white rabbit from the beginning, before the story seemingly starts all over again.
Overall, a lovely production which should be produced more often.
Also, I now want Simon Reade to adapt Through the Looking-Glass.
