By Donald H. Harrison
EL CAJON, California –My 13-year-old grandson, Shor, and I went on a dramatic psychedelic trip on Thursday evening, May 8—not self-induced, but rather one devised by Madge Miller and directed by Jerry Hager, the theatre arts professor and former Seaport Village mime. Hager took Miller’s adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s story about “Alice in Wonderland” (aka “Through the Looking Glass”) and made it even more trippy.
Whoa, dude, don’t call the cops on me for child endangerment; we didn’t swallow, sniff, smoke or inject anything, we just sat in the audience of Grossmont College’s Stagehouse Theatre and let it happen to us. If the dialogue seemed only to make partial sense, and the steampunk costumes’ colors were bright and clanky, and the lighting and sound sent us to other time zones, well that was the point, or was it?
It was a version of “Alice in Wonderland” that it may take two or three viewings to completely catch up with, and then only if I speed up my mind, or they slow down or Americanize the British sounding dialect. Shor was amazed by the Shakespearean-style narration by Luke Benning, who played “Hookah” the fortune teller—an equivalent, I believe, of the caterpillar in Carroll’s original tale. The more he explained, the more confounded we became. But he explained everything with such authority, we thirstily drank in his every sandy word,
The play in some ways follows the original story. Alice (Heather Armstrong, and brava to her!) finds her way into a strange place—a carnival actually—and is confronted by Mr. White (Frederick Strack), whom we recognize as the harried White Rabbit character. He can’t find his gloves and as he looks for them, he is startled—practically jumping out of his skin–every time he looks up and sees Alice. Thus is introduced to the play the slapstick comedy that will sustain it throughout
Alice, whom Mr. White keeps calling “Mary Ann,” objects to the misidentification, but she becomes increasingly uncertain of who she really is, or what she knows, here at this Wonderland Carnival. She tests her math skills: 4 x 5 is 13, and her knowledge of geography, “London is the capital of Paris.”
Meanwhile, the sugar tarts which Queenie (Danielle Gulihur) has baked to enjoy after the croquet game are stolen, setting Mr. White into even greater panic. For if the confection is not delivered, the queen is sure to have his head. Having other duties to perform, White prompts Alice to look for the missing tarts, and to do so she must travel deeper into the confines of the Wonderland Carnival, where really nothing is quite as it seems.
Remember the Cheshire Cat in the original version? He’s now two characters, Kit, the ventriloquist (Brendan Calahan) and Kat his dummy (whose voice comes from an announcer’s booth somewhere above us). The two of them keep fading away like the old Cheshire.
Nearly every character Alice meets engages her in some sort of comic shtick – including King (Glynn Long), who plays a game of hand over hand over hand over hand with her in two unsuccessful efforts to lift the cover off the sweet tart tray, which Alice can’t let him do lest he learn the sweet tarts are missing.
Duchess (Audrey Atwater) and Knave (Bowen Armour) introduce Alice to a special recipe that can rival any of the mishagass you might be tempted to sample at the upcoming San Diego County Fair in Del Mar. She makes pepper-ade, which is like lemonade, only made with pepper. Of course, it induces sneezing, which recurs with much hilarity throughout the show. Hatter (Shane Monaghan) and entourage barrage Alice with riddles, which try as she might, she can’t think of the answers. Neither can they.
After the 15-minute intermission, the effects of whatever is ailing Alice seem to be wearing off, so she is able to occasionally interject some sanity into the proceedings, or at least to try. Yet her madcap adventure is far from over. She has to deal with Gryphon (a very funny Derek San Filippo), whose character strays only occasionally from his self-made prison. Given that Grossmont College students are called the “Griffins,” there is satire in the frolic.
At last we come to the croquet game, played with pretend flamingos and hedgehogs—after which the queen will want to eat an oxymoronic sweet tart. When the treats prove to be missing, the queen orders a trial to determine who the real culprit was (no, not the Butler in the Pantry with a Gun, that’s another story). Telling you the identity of the thief, of course, would spoil the fun, so I’ll never tell.
This version of “Alice in Wonderland” plays again Friday and Saturday evenings, May 9 and 10, and there is also a 2 p.m. May 10 matinee. Next week there will be four more performances: Thursday, May 15, Friday, May 16, and twice Saturday, May 17. Tickets may be obtained from the college’s box office, (619)-644-7234.
*
Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted at donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com