It’s a while since Lewis Carroll wrote his unlikely comedy festival script about a dreamy young girl falling into a rabbit hole.  It still works though, especially for the primary school set when it’s in the hands of the four talented and likable young actors, three girls and a guy, from Sydney’s Tumbleweeds Productions.

Most of Carroll’s old characters are there. A bewildered Alice was already sitting in the stalls when the audience filed in and was quickly joined by the keyboard playing White Rabbit who backed the songs, played incidental music and intermittently raced around regretting her tardiness. The other two, with an admirable range of corny accents, become birds, caterpillars, mock turtles, Mad Hatters, March Hares, playing cards, an unscary croquet-playing queen and a very cool Cheshire cat, in rapid succession. It’s non-stop movement, character and costume changes. Nothing is wasted – even a sock puppet plays two roles including the King literally on the Queen’s arm.

Alice grows and shrinks, through the aid of clever on-screen graphics, as she unwisely sips magic potions.  The action and the original songs quietened boisterous boys in the bleachers and captivated pre-teen misses on the front row. They laughed and took their chances to participate. Parents and Pops enjoyed the enjoyment of the youngsters almost as much as hearing Carroll’s nonsense verses and word games coming alive onstage.

The Ballroom is a big space and this production of Alice in Wonderland deserves to fill it with the merriment of munchkins and their minders.  As Alice said when she finally woke, ‘It’s a very good game of let’s pretend.’

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