Mayflower Theatre, Southampton – until 22 April. Reviewed by Karen Millington Burnet
Hmm, Wonderland has been a decidedly mixed experience; this was a performance in three halves. The first half of the first half was wooden at best and though the second half of the first half was decidedly better, our overriding thought at the interval was “irritating”. While we had read the review beforehand and seen the comments in the show guide – and were looking forward with anticipation to a “spine-tingling” performance – we never really felt bought-in to the magical wonderland which we had hoped for.
We were a party of two parents and a thirteen year old and he was distinctly underwhelmed, though with some cajoling, he acknowledged some redeeming performances and aspects such as great props and lighting.
To be fair, both Natalie McQueen’s Mad Hatter and Naomi Morris’s Ellie won joint “Man of the Match” for great performances, though Natalie came from behind with a slow start. It was Stephen Webb’s appearance as a changed Jack after his excursion though the Looking Glass which marked a revived tempo which Natalie McQueen capitalised upon after the interval, delivering a powerful performance as a cross between an Orwellian caricature and Miranda Richardson/Blackadder’s Queenie; which frankly confused me but proved a light hearted allegory on power. Ben Kerr’s March Hare was delightful and fully out-shone Dominic Owen’s Cat; poor Dominic was sorely let-down both by the costume department and by a lack of comic timing. Sadly Rachel Wooding, though clearly very polished, managed to fluff Alice’s lines a couple of times which interrupted the flow and our concentration.
As ever, the music at the Mayflower is exceptional and Wendi Peter’s Queen, Kaye Ushe’s Caterpillar (and his delightful “legs” many of whom doubled up as the “Ensemble” and “Cards”) and of course Natalie McQueen’s Mad Hatter had some exceptional moments, but increasingly irritatingly, the speaker system now seems dated and can’t handle the more powerful performances without becoming unintelligible and developing some form of interference. The props as ever are a delight and the lighting was great – though, yet again, the chap on the spot lights does seem to doze off and miss his cue at times.
We started in a poor frame of mind and the performance struggled to lift us. Nevertheless, to a man – and woman – the cast worked tirelessly and while there were the odd bloops, any blame must lie with the production team for just not getting the performers into the right place. We did cheer up a great deal with an interval tub of excellent Mayflower ice cream – I can recommend the double chocolate!