Hops with the Hatter

10 April 2012

How often did I wish, when I was 10, that the pictures in Alice in Wonderland would come to life and dance before my eyes? How I wanted the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, the Queen of Hearts, and inquisitive little Alice to step off the page and bring their anarchic, mysterious, laugh-aloud world with them.

ENB has created an Alice ballet that does just that. The child-friendly show is a moving version of John Tenniel's illustrations, all references present, most details correct.

Designer Sue Blane gives us complete visual recall, with a White Rabbit, a Queen of Hearts, a Mock Turtle, Caterpillar, and Cheshire Cat looking just as they should. There are also square tutus for the pack of cards, which is a stroke of design inspiration.

Alice fans will be visually pleased, which is just as well because much else about this ballet is disappointing.

The main problem with Derek Deane's 1995 production is the music. It's a Tchaikovsky patchwork, bits of which have individual merit, but they don't add up to a convincing ballet score. There are no great melodies, no uniting themes, and no noticeable leitmotifs for the main characters, essential for ballet, especially one aimed at children.

Equally flat is the choreography, or, more correctly, the movement direction. Deane has ideas, but few steps, and none of them reveal much about character or narrative.

It isn't enough to have the White Rabbit hop, although at least he moves vaguely in character. The Caterpillar, for example, does nothing noticeably like a caterpillar. Indeed, if he wasn't dressed as a caterpillar, you wouldn't know he was one. Other lows include clunky scene transitions, and some lazy thinking, such as the vital down- the- rabbit- hole sequence.

In Deane's production, this is a muddle, with wafting fabric, swerving wings and a none-too-convincing light at the end of a tunnel. And yet, and yet ... by Act II you're almost convinced. The Mad Hatter's tea party is as riotous as you want, the Queen of Hearts an imperious witch, and the Mock Turtle all forlorn.

And although not much of an actress, last night's Alice was sweet. She was played by Venus Villa, a Cuban ballet dancer who arrived at ENB in the summer via a season at The Royal Ballet. Extra special mentions to Fabian Reimair as the Mad Hatter, Yosvani Ramos as the March Hare, Maria Kochetkova as the Dormouse, and Yat-Sen Chang as the White Rabbit.

Until 7 January. Information: 0870 145 0200, www.ballet.org.uk

English National Ballet: Alice In Wonderland
London Coliseum
St Martin's Lane, WC2N 4ES

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in