On January 31st and February 1st, Riverside’s Theatre Troupe performed a play adaptation of Lewis Caroll’s 1865 classic, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
The show follows Alice (played by senior Nazanin Ghulami) as she travels through the titular Wonderland and tries to figure out how to return home for her birthday. She meets a wide variety of interesting and fun characters along the way, such as the White Rabbit (senior Jay Orozco Vasquez), the Mad Hatter (sophomore Viridian Morrow), and the Queen of Hearts (junior Henry Kingston).
The play is also adapted to include characters from the original story’s sequel, Through the Looking Glass, such as Humpty Dumpty (senior Robbie Edmonds), Tweedledum (senior Finn Lueck-Wright), and Tweedledee (senior Jacob Foraker).
The most prominent of the characters that Alice meets is the Cheshire Cat (senior Chris Tapia). He plays a much larger role in the story than in the original, being the first character Alice meets and watching over her journey through Wonderland, and Tapia was great at performing the fun character.
Ghulami also did a wonderful job playing the lead role of the inquisitive young girl. Her curiosity was apparent in every scene as she tried to make sense of this strange other world and find her way home. She questions each of the characters she comes across, asking who they are, what their deal is, and if they know how to help her. While some of the dialogue exchanges were slightly confusing, it all helped to sell the play’s whimsical tone and stay true to the original book’s nonsensical nature.
The costuming and set design was fantastic in helping to bring the wonderful world to life. The headdresses of the Flowers, resembling actual flowers, were pretty, the Queen of Hearts’ heart-shaped wig was eye-catching, and the Cheshire Cat’s make-up, portraying his eternal grin, was very creative. Out of the set pieces, the most impressive was the neon, light-up sign that was also used to show the Cat’s grin, this time without a body. It wasn’t on-stage for very long, but was stunning regardless.
While there were a few mishaps here and there, such as actors speaking too quietly and mics cutting out, it wasn’t enough to ruin the fantastical and wonderful play.
