PUTTING on Alice in Wonderland is incredibly ambitious. Putting on Alice in Wonderland as a first time director (Jess Ricketts) is even more so.

The annual Victoria Hall Christmas show is a great showcase for the wealth of young acting talent that we have in this town.

The standard of their acting was outstanding. If we miss anyone out then apologies.

Crucial to the success of this show was the performance of Anna Turnell as Alice. It is a mighty feat to be on for all two hours and perform so well. In many ways, Alice is the “straight man” to all the outlandish characters. She pivots, they perform.

And boy, were there so many “out-there” performances. What Alice lacks in what we could call “plot”, it makes up in characters. Characters from a Victorian age, that are still part of our modern vocabulary.

It was once again a joy to see young Korban Doyle, this time as the Mad Hatter. Again, it would be easy to overact Korban for the balance right.

Each character that came on made their mark. They never overplayed their hand. Again, great credit to the direction.

Jess Kielty’s Red Queen, Emma Kent’s White Rabbit and Christy Haefele’s Queen of Hearts to name just three. Sometimes, when you write a review the next day, you refer to your notes. Not with this performance! Especially Adam Thomson’s Caterpillar who sounded like Ozzy Osbourne!

This production also had the best use of modern music this reviewer had heard in a long time. From the opening scene using Hazy Shade of Winter, through Wuthering Heights, Another Brick in the Wall and Itchy Coo Park to name just a few.

This would be a good time to praise the sets and costumes. How much work goes into this production? The good news is that it shows. There must be have been dozens of costumes. From toy soldiers, TweedleDee and TweedleDum to Walrus and Carpenter puppets. The final scene is a wonderful wall of colour and custom that showcase all the work the crew did.

Again, there are some young actors, we only see in the background over the year. So it was could to see acts such as Aston Wood as Humpty Dumpty given a real platform (or a wall) to show what a talent he is.

But the play also relied on the host of young actors playing their parts in a number of roles. The training they had all year bore fruit here. They sang every note perfectly, they marched in time, they enunciated so well.

Did the audience enjoy it? We know our friends from Mike’s Den on the front row loved it! And we know that the charity organisations on Thursday also had a great time.

Whist driving home, this reviewer reflected that he found Alice hard to grasp when he was in first year at school. Then again, he also struggled with Paradise Lost at A Level!

There is no real plot and you got the feeling that a lot of the audience found much of the dialogue impenetrable. It was truly like watching someone go down the rabbit-hole! You just have to embrace the whole experience.

However, the Christmas show at Victoria Hall Theatre is very much a companion piece to the pantomime at the Harlow Playhouse and the show for six-year-olds in Theatre Two there.

The young people have their school productions but this is such great and such vital experience. They will learn so much.

We also acknowledge that a lot of volunteers here have such busy lives and it is Christmas.

Much credit to first time director Jess Ricketts who has shown huge ambition in putting Alice on. Go see it. It runs until New Years Eve.

The whole theatre looks magical from the outside and in. The whole experience is magical. Embrace the colours, the characters and the charm.

Alice in Wonderland continues until New Years Eve.

Click below for more details.

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/victoriahalltheatre?fbclid=IwY2xjawOzcv1leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETA0RVBMTmxvMGxsYUgyQUp5c3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHpG3KCOvEvLrQD3SOTdtjuC8tKsRitA5Dr_tM15QLWjfS7rLuq6f9e5MsJov_aem_SgBVSW0h8g3GL-qR4UEfOQ