Bridgette Dunlap
Director
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
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"As inspired an adaptation
of a children's classic as I've ever seen."
-The New York Times
Adapted and
directed by Bridgette Dunlap
from the book by Lewis Carroll
Produced by Atlantic for Kids
Atlantic Theater, March 2005
Costume design by Katja Andreiev, prop design by Emily French, artwork by Manny Silva
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Produced by
the Ateh Theater Group
Connelly Theater, March 2007
Costume design by Amy van Mullekom, set and prop design by Emily French, artwork by Manny Silva
The New York Times
An Especially Agile Alice Makes Her Debut
By LAUREL GRAEBERMarch 11, 2005
Help wanted: actors experienced in acrobatics, puppetry, kazoo playing, slapstick, modern dance, classical ballet and martial arts (especially Ninja moves). Total lack of inhibitions a must. This list of qualifications might seem difficult to fulfill even in the multitalented world of New York. But the Atlantic Theater Company - apparently without ads - has found just such a cast among the alumni of its own acting school. Its 75-minute Atlantic for Kids production of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" is as inspired an adaptation of a children's classic as I've ever seen.
Anyone who has read the original knows that Lewis Carroll's convoluted rhymes and incessant puns can be daunting for the young - a little like trying to swim through the deep pool that Alice weeps. But Bridgette Dunlap, the playwright and director, and her collaborators - including the costume designer Katja Andreiev, the prop designer Emily French and the artist Manny Silva - have created so much stunning visual comedy that children don't need to understand every word. And those who do will find their experience only enriched by the nonstop antics onstage.When this Alice becomes small, for instance, she whips out a blond doll and becomes a superego scolding her diminutive self. Played by Kathryn Ekblad as more of an American tomboy in pants than as a little British girl in a pinafore, she has the audience riveted from the moment she somersaults and cartwheels into Wonderland to the second she kickboxes her way out of it.
Alice's fellows are just as engaging, whether sock puppets, marionettes or inventively transformed humans. (Imagine creating a pigeon by attaching a fake bird's head to an actress's hat with a Slinky.) Sometimes the surprises are aural, too, as when techno or classical music suddenly blares, or the Duchess jolts theatergoers by exhorting them, "Always save your files to disks."
Not that anyone needs waking up. With everything from cloth lobsters to a cream pie flying through the air, this is a production not even the Dormouse could snooze through.
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