Wonderland

From September 2012

Any production that garners a one star review from The Daily Telegraph and gets the thumbs down from The Review Show's Paul Morley is got to be worth seeing. And Wonderland by Glasgow's Vanishing Point certainly is; it's a show that mesmerises from start to finish.

My only criticism would be with the blurb in the Edinburgh International Festival's programme which describes Wonderland as a 'darkly subversive take on the themes of Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Caroll's classic tale'. The play is only imperceptibly connected with Caroll's novel: there is a girl who is called Alice (although the audience cannot be entirely certain even of that) and there is an allusion throughout of moving from the real world to a world of fantasy. Anyone expecting appearance from the White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat will be sorely disappointed.

The subject matter is internet pornography and sexual exploitation, so, not a bundle of laughs. Unsurprisingly at times it makes for uncomfortable viewing and Jenny Hulse in particular deserves plaudits for her portrayal of 'Alice', a young girl involved in a seedy porn film, often naked and frequently abused by those around her. One of the Telegraph's & Paul Morley's complaints was that the play didn't produce any answers. But since governments & societies have been unable to come up with any solutions to the problems of sexual exploitation then why would you expect a theatre company to do so? 

Tackling difficult subjects is what modern theatre should be all about. At the Traverse, Simon Stephens tried it with Morning and failed spectacularly, but Wonderland is magnificent. It's on for another night at the Lyceum and then a week at the Tramway in Glasgow at the end of September. Go see - one way or another I can guarantee you won't be disappointed.