Alo Party Peoples.
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| Directed by Erik Archilla Written by Cleft McClelland |
As some of you may know, I'm currently attending school. What you didn't know is that I am part of the theatre department, which is currently putting on their Fall production, Vunderland. I am also required to see at least one live theatre performance a year, so I figured I'd get an article out of it.
Vunderland starts out as a straight adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, but it soon becomes something both different and unique, starting by moving the stories' time period from the mid-19th Century to the middle of the 1930s'. When Alice falls down the rabbit hole, the story starts to diverge from the form it usually takes. She sees that the boundaries of Wonderland have started to break down, and thus begins encountering characters from other works of classic literature. She encounters the pirate Long John Silver in search of a treasure, a bunch of animal men created by a doctor who's name begins with an 'M', and falls in love with a Stranger that, while I'm sure his identity was supposed to be a big reveal, those familiar with his source material will figure it out almost immediately.
Once they get to the Queen of Hearts' garden, things get explicit. The Queen fears the changes that have been occurring in Wonderland as the borders between worlds burn away, so she starts taking on the attributes and policies of the reason the borders have been burning. Namely, the Nazis during the buildup to World War 2.
The assembled cast is terrific, especially for a bunch of high school students. One Molly Harrison as Alice puts on a fine accent, one Zeara Seaman as a Cheshire Cat who is now a veteran of the Great War sells the madness of both the character and the Great War, one Killian Ellis as the Stranger's intentionally monotone speech is entertaining, but the standout is unarguably Chloe Clark-Soles as the Queen of Hearts. She has a compelling, dominating onstage presence, and as a four year member of the Theatre department, I can see this kid going places in ten or fifteen years. Either in more theatre, or perhaps one of those moving picture shows that this site normally focuses on.
I can praise the performances as much as I like, but ultimately that won't matter to potential viewers. By its very nature, a stage play, whether because of different actors, aesthetic choices, or just technical goofs, will be different every time it is performed. The only constant between any two productions will be what's in the script, and Vunderland has an excellent one. A script about the power and longevity of ideas, and how the times when they are challenged are often when they become the most powerful.
Vunderland is a fantastic production with good performers, and a thoughtful script, that most of you won't have the chance to see. Since this is a small, local thing, it's very unlikely that people outside of the Dallas, TX area will ever be able to experience it, and fifteen years ago wouldn't even be able to know about. It might thus seem odd for me to bring it up here, but I think that if I do, it slightly raises the potential that the school board might do something with the script after it's initial run.
Have a nice day.
Greg.B
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