“What is life if not a dream?” asks the poem by Lewis Carroll and one of the closing numbers in Anthony Neilson’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland; a production that takes that famous questions and runs with it.
And runs very, very far.
If you did wake up to recall a night’s worth of dreaming in a similar vein to Neilson’s showcase though, you’d probably think you’d gone slightly mad, had eaten far too much cheese the previous night, or all of the above. Of course, we don’t imagine Lewis Carroll would have it any other way.
Neilson’s production is a journey through the bizarre wonders of Carroll’s mind, driven by creativity and wordplay rather than narrative, with, as in the original writing, very little plot to tie together the series of curious incidents Alice stumbles through in Wonderland.
The puns and double entendres are relentless. They’re at the centre of near enough every interaction and used to establish what little plot there is. And quite a few of them had us laughing out loud. It’s a script as clever and witty as Alice’s dream is wild.
The show was enjoyable for adults, though much of the script is directed at kids, and as a result can drag from time to time – Pat and Bill the Giant-Child Eliminators pandered a little too much and their comedy felt forced, and Nick Powell’s songs struggle to hit a chord, often straying from inventive to anarchy.
And runs very, very far.
If you did wake up to recall a night’s worth of dreaming in a similar vein to Neilson’s showcase though, you’d probably think you’d gone slightly mad, had eaten far too much cheese the previous night, or all of the above. Of course, we don’t imagine Lewis Carroll would have it any other way.
Neilson’s production is a journey through the bizarre wonders of Carroll’s mind, driven by creativity and wordplay rather than narrative, with, as in the original writing, very little plot to tie together the series of curious incidents Alice stumbles through in Wonderland.
The puns and double entendres are relentless. They’re at the centre of near enough every interaction and used to establish what little plot there is. And quite a few of them had us laughing out loud. It’s a script as clever and witty as Alice’s dream is wild.
The show was enjoyable for adults, though much of the script is directed at kids, and as a result can drag from time to time – Pat and Bill the Giant-Child Eliminators pandered a little too much and their comedy felt forced, and Nick Powell’s songs struggle to hit a chord, often straying from inventive to anarchy.
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