Review: Alice in Wonderland (Brixton House)

Review by Sam Waite

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

One of the great joys of the festive season is stories you know and love can always be counted on to make a return. Returning to Brixton House after a successful 2022 production, Jack Bradfield and Poltergeist’s take on Lewis Caroll’s Alice in Wonderland has undergone some minor maintenance, and is on track to bring another season of joy to the families of Brixton.

Poltergeist’s Alice is a London schoolgirl, an eleven-year-old artist in the making who writes rhymes for herself but is too nervous to ever share them out loud. After growing tensions with her divorced mum, a former jingle writer whose new job is better for their finances but worse for her free time, an argument breaks out on a Victoria Line platform. One fateful thing leads to another, and Alice finds herself scared and alone on a train whose passengers she recognises from her English homework.

Tatenda Matsvai is a delight as Alice, bringing shades of awkward youngster and fast-maturing young person to the role that ease the steady transition from stowaway to hero. Matsvai carries themself with all the exaggerated energy needed for a solid family show, and proves to be a winning and affecting stage presence when the story’s connection to their home life shines through. Opposite them, triple-rolling as their mother and two of the most important people on the train, Cheyenne Dasri brings both pathos and comedy to her work. Whether cackling away as the vindictive queen, panicking as the over-stressed mum, or dithering over possibilities as the indecisive Chatter, Dasri is utterly magical.

 As you’d expect, Bradfield and Poltergeist’s script finds Alice encountering all sorts of familiar oddballs as she leaps from one carriage to the next. Particular highlights come in the form of Chatter’s trio of freedom fighters – “the people you don’t want to see on the train!” – a rat, a pigeon, and a runny nose. When this haphazard resistance gathers, Gavin Dunn, Rosa Garland and Will Spence make for an excellent comedy trio, employing liberal physical comedy and milking each like for humour. Garland’s Dum and Spence’s Dee are, of course, the funny pair you expect from the source material, while Dunn’s brief appearances as menacing but soft-spoken Hammersmith find great comic shades in a stock henchman role.

Debbie Duru’s costumes do a marvellous job of bringing to life the essence of those original Wonderland characters, while making them wholly modern and part of this new, (literally) underground take on the story. Shankho Chaudhuri brings to life this chaotic train line with a seemingly mundane stage design filled with hidden details – what seems like an ordinary train carriage holds hidden spaces for props and character entrances, and a menacing poster (one of several co-created with illustrator Israel Kujore) advertises the Jabberwocky’s mantra: “See it. Slay it. Sorted.” The set also has a surprise component, which allows it to adapt for a suitably epic finale to Alice’s underground adventure.

As for the Jabberwocky itself, they and the Chesham Cat are largely manifested through the genius work of lighting designer Rajiv Pattani. The menacing, ever-growing creature appears primarily as a pair of glowing, genuinely ominous eyes, while the Cat’s jumping through different electrical channels is a fantastic example of Pattani’s fast-moving, visually exciting design. Alongside the unsettling appearance of “Commuters” – lifeless travellers who have lost all sense of purpose and identity – Pattani’s flickering and shutting off of lights lends Alice in Wonderland almost horror-like qualities in its more sinister moments.

Transit puns and travel-centric humour litters the text from the moment Alice steps aboard the train, be it a threat to “split you like Highbury & Islington” or a fiercely shrieked, “We don’t talk to each other on the train!” Where this show acts as Brixton House’s answer to panto season, the usual over-the-kids’-heads jokes are here replaced by clever quips about the mundanities of a daily commute. Bradfield and co find just the right balance between too much and just enough, carefully cueing the groans without ever reaching the need for sighs. Horrifying though their presence is, the Commuters get a laugh on their introduction, as folks who have simply lost the ability to acknowledge the world outside of their phones while on the train, so accustomed to the hustle and bustle. Other jokes target the production itself, mocking itself as “a bad adaptation” and frequently referencing the book in Alice’s hands to raise that timeless question: Is this all a dream, or something all too real?

Dynamism and a sense of energy is given to the show through Alice and her mother’s relationship with music and rhyme. Acting as both lyricist and “rappertug”, Gerel Falconer – fresh off a recent run of his own solo show at the same venue – provides the bulk of Alice’s rhymes, as well as a handful of infectious, crowd-pleasing numbers. When Chatter and her gang of rebels have the audience chant their hooks back to them, the effect is heightened by Falconer’s proven abilities with rapping and musicianship. Likewise, a quiet moment between Alice and her mum becomes something electrifying when combined with his musical gifts. Alongside him, composer Alice Boyd provides catchy tracks and keeps the energy high, helping to create melodies that will follow families home after the show.

Already a soaring enough success to be making this victory lap, Alice in Wonderland is a perfect family show for the holiday season, with important messages, classic story beats, and a joyous, genuinely moving passion emanating from its core. Alice herself may be desperately trying to get off the train, but with so much heart, humour, and hip-hop excellence, I’m already wondering when I can hop aboard again.

Alice in Wonderland plays at Brixton House until January 4th 2025

For tickets and information visit https://brixtonhouse.co.uk/shows/alice-in-wonderland/

Photos by Helen Murray