Lookingglass Alice

Count me among the legion of devotees of Lewis Caroll's Alice stories, which have entered into the subconscious of us all over the near 150 years of their existence. They are astonishing works of genius, both a tapping of the collective unconscious as expressed as a children's story, and as a sly elucidation on mathematics, chess, linguistics and Victorian politics.

The two books, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, have been reinterpreted numerous times in other media, from film to opera. The Lookingglass Theatre Company of Chicago have taken a crack at it, turning the tales into a combination of theater and circus. Enacted by a remarkable cast of five under the direction of David Catlin, who also adapted Carroll's words, Lookingglass Alice is sort of a representation of the story as told by a troupe of acrobatic clowns.

I saw the show at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton. I was among those seated on the stage, facing those who were seated in the usual seating area. The two audiences were initially separated by a black curtain, a fireplace, and what looked to be a mirror above. A sharp-eyed little girl noticed what I didn't--it wasn't a mirror, but merely a window. In this way, the play could begin with Alice on one side, and Mr. Dodgson (the real name of Lewis Carroll) on the other, and they could pass through to the other side.

What followed was a mixture of music, acrobatics, clowning and stagecraft that never wavered in its ability to fascinate. There were tykes all around me, and not a one seemed to be at any moment bored. The production was just over ninety minutes, with no intermission, and constantly offered a treat for the eye.

The story itself look some severe liberties with Carroll, rearranging portions and giving characters different attributes. For instance, the Queen of Hearts and the Red Queen are combined, and instead of the caterpillar being a sage puffing on a hookah, it's a three-headed creature given to a fascination with question words (and I don't think the word "poop" appears anyway in Carroll. The production also gives us Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee disco dancing, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare and the Dormouse performing with a series of folding chairs, Humpty Dumpty taking a great fall, and even proposes an answer to the riddle, "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" Mostly it followed the plot of Through the Looking Glass, which has Alice progressing through the story as if a chess piece until she reaches the point where she becomes queen.

The performers are all amazing. As Alice, Lauren Hirte is able to persuade us she's seven years old, while simultaneously being an expert gymnast and aerialist. As she swung on ropes twenty feet above a net-less stage, I couldn't help but feel my heart in my throat. Only four men inhabited all the other characters, and they are Larry DiStasi, Anthony Fleming III, Doug Hara and Tony Hernandez. Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi was the circus choreographer. She had a lot of work to do.

This was a wonderful entertainment for children as well as an unusually pleasurable divertissement for adults, or, as are usual noted, "children of all ages."