Another flippin’ Alice, you might think, as St Hugh’s College, Oxford, plays host to an outdoor adaptation of the children’s classic, much beloved locally for its numerous Oxford associations. But this version, devised and staged by Creation Theatre, is defiantly non-traditional, both in its promenade format and its comprehensive reimagining of dialogue and narrative.
Rather like their Wind in the Willows adaptation from earlier this year, this is a well-known story that has been crammed full of ideas, pushed and stretched to an almost bewildering degree, but fortunately never losing sight of the core ideas that make the source text so valuable. And while kids will enjoy and get a lot out of it, it’s comparatively sophisticated stuff that will resonate with the young adult end of the age range as much as the smaller children (I would say that anyone younger than my five-year-old may find it all a bit baffling).
This Alice begins in the tranquil courtyard garden of St Hugh’s: an early 20th-century pile, in contrast to the medieval splendours of other colleges. A stroppy teenager moves among the quietly chatting audience, talking loudly on her mobile phone – and eliciting some genuinely frosty glares. But soon it emerges that this is Lorina (presumably an update of the real-life Alice Liddell’s older sister), who is due to meet up with our heroine Alice, who emerges from the crowd at the other end of the throng. They meet, have a quick tiff, and storm off in opposite directions. Alice makes for an arch on the far side of the garden, decorated with the word “Wonderland” – and we are invited to follow her.
There’s nothing kids like better than a bit of scrambling about, so this promenade approach – enterprising and distinctive in itself – goes down very well with children, as do the rugs and benches to perch on when you get there. We are shepherded through a series of self-contained environments: the first is an abstract landscape featuring a metalwork mushroom; the next a long table for the Mad Hatter’s tea party; then it’s on to a giant croquet ground where a couple of volunteers are called up for a spot of head-butting croquet balls through human-sized hoops.
Among all the entertaining, steampunkish stage-work, director Helen Tennison and writer Kate Kerrow have conflated Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass to fashion their Alice as an unambiguous statement of adolescent crisis. Borrowing something from Peter Pan, as well as The Wizard of Oz and Beauty and the Beast, this is about a girl apprehensive of what growing up holds in store, with the Jabberwocky reconfigured as a roaring monster representative of the terrors of the grownup world. The four-strong cast really give it their all: Rachel-Mae Brady makes for an engaging Alice, poised agonisingly between childhood and teenagerdom, while Emma Fenney, James Burton and Luke Chadwick-Jones take on multiple roles. Fenney goes from the intimidating Lorina to a witch-like Queen of Hearts; Burton takes on the comedy roles of the Hatter and the White Knight with infectious vim; while Chadwick-Jones performs some pretty impressive springs and somersaults as the most accomplished acrobat of the troupe.
It all builds to a rousing climax back in the courtyard garden – though perhaps this final section relies a little too heavily on the kind of lighting effects that would show up best in the evening performances (in keeping with traditional kids’ hours, we went to the afternoon show). So perhaps this production, entertaining as it is, would be seen to the best advantage if you have older children, happy to come out after dinner. A word of warning: bring an umbrella. It didn’t rain when we were there, but I suspect it wouldn’t be so much fun if it did.
• Alice is at St Hugh’s College, Oxford, until 13 September. Box office: 01865 766266
