Alice In Wonderland At Shakespeare North Playhouse, Prescot Review

DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW

Reviewed by Elaine Hatch

On Tuesday 26th November, I had the pleasure of watching Alice in Wonderland at the Shakespeare North Playhouse in Prescot, Merseyside. Our party consisted of 2 adults and 2 children so we could share our opinions.

Getting to the theatre was easy, there are numerous car parks all within a 5-6 minute walk away, some are free and some charge a small fee. However, the communication from the theatre gave me all the details I needed, including directions, car parking and what facilities are available at the theatre.

There is a reasonably Shakespeare North Bar & Kitchen, reasonably priced food and drink, for example a cheeseboard with chutneys and crackers at £8.00 and “Pizzettes” ranging from £6 – £8

We bought 4 cans of soft drinks from the bar for just over £8, which, for a theatre, again, I would say is reasonable. You could order drinks for the interval and there were the usual refreshments available, such as chocolate, crisps and ice cream which you can take into the theatre. You can also take your own sweets and drinks with you.

There is a gift shop and a Ken Dodd Performance Garden, which is an outdoor performance area.

The venue itself is a modern building, clean and tidy, and there were no queues for toilets or entering the theatre – and it was a packed-out show. Shakespeare North Playhouse is committed to making theatre accessible to all; there are three floors, each accessible by lift and every floor has accessible toilets. The theatre provides special British Sign Language interpreted performances, as well as captioned and audio described performances.

All areas of the theatre are well signposted, and lots of friendly staff were on hand to help, should we have needed to ask anything.

At the heart of the venue is a traditional 470 seat timber framed Shakespearean theatre. We were seated in the Lower Gallery, behind “the Cockpit” seating area. We had a good view of the stage in the centre of the theatre. Seats are benches with cushions, some of which have backs and some of which don’t. I would recommend, if you have back problems, to try and book a seat with a back, as I did get a little uncomfortable towards the end, as, although there was a 20-minute interval, I was sitting on a bench for two hours.

There is also an Alice in Wonderland exhibition at the venue, during the play’s run, which was great for the kids to go around before the performance.

So, onto the performance of Alice in Wonderland. I have never seen or read Alice in Wonderland, so I had to rely on the two younger people in our group to fill me in. However, this show is a sequel to the events in Lewis Carroll’s book, and we find an older Alice being transported back to Wonderland, where things are not quite as she remembered them.

The story follows Alice on her newest adventures, with appearances from all the favourite characters from the original Alice story. Alice wants to get back to her family in Prescot….. yes….. really…… but has some work to do in Wonderland before she can go back.

The story is wonderfully engaging for adults and children alike. It is probably better suited to older children I think, my 10-year-old guests enjoyed it and were kept entertained throughout.

They particularly enjoyed the White Rabbit and the Mad Hatters acrobatics, as well as the audience participation which was wonderful. Throwing the balls at the Duchess was a particular favourite for us all!

They also enjoyed the playing cards who, as well as playing every part apart from Alice between them all, also narrated the story to the audience as the show went along.

The dialogue made many references to the local area of Prescot and a little further afield to Liverpool, with some good scouse phrases interwoven into the scripts, such as “the bizzies”, “sound lad” and “the ossie”

It was equally as enjoyable and engaging for the two adults in my group, with some clever jokes about “levelling-up Wonderland” and “getting Wonderland done” thrown in! A really good family show.

The whole cast were amazing. The way the four playing cards swapped roles quickly to play all the parts was brilliant. We all agreed that the stand out performance for us was from Milton Lopes, who plays Card 5, the Mad Hatter, the DoDo and many other parts throughout. We also loved Tia Larson who played Card 2, as she also played the White Rabbit with a wonderful French accent.

However, everyone in the play was fantastic, there were many laughs throughout and there was a lovely poignant message at the end, which seemed fitting, particularly at this time of year. The audience clearly agreed and the cast received rapturous applause at the end of the show.

From arriving at the theatre, the exhibition, the play with the wonderful, magical, heart-warming, and slightly bonkers story, to the smiles on all our faces when we left, this was a lovely evening, and I would heartily recommend this show to anyone in the run-up to Christmas or to kick-start your 2025 – well worth the ticket price!

This story is written by Nick Lane and directed by Nathan Powell

Rating: 5/5

Alice in Wonderland is on from Friday 22nd November – Saturday 11th Jan with a number of access performances available on certain dates.

Tickets prices range from £5 – £40 dependent on date/time of your visit.

For more information, or to book tickets, visit: https://shakespearenorthplayhouse.co.uk/

https://shakespearenorthplayhouse.co.uk/event/alice-in-wonderland/?

Shakespeare North Playhouse
Prospero Place, Prescot, L34 3AB