The Adaptation
Steve Nallon’s Adventures in Wonderland is a re-invention of the Lewis Carroll stories rather than a straight forward presentation of the original text. In this sense, the show is following in the tradition of the adaptation that takes a strong individual perspective on the story and then re-presents the tale (and the thinking behind it) from that point of view. Jonathan Miller’s 1966 film for BBC television saw the Alice tale as a story about a confused, rather melancholy child growing up in an 1860’s Victorian world of adult authority, a world of which Alice would eventually be a part. The more recent Chicken Shed Theatre Company’s production of Alice On The Underground by Chris Bond mirrors the dream figures of Wonderland but draws upon the stark reality of 21st-century London life, including drugs, violence and prostitution.
Steve Nallon’s show chooses a different route, and instead focuses on the gaining self awareness, the need for upside-down thinking to cope with contemporary life, and the importance of imaginative play for all. The show also occasionally offers the audience an insight into some of the ideas that influenced the original book, such as the emergence of the Darwinian theory of evolution that Carroll sped up to comic extremes in the Alice stories. With his satirical background on such shows as Spitting Image, Steve mixes these themes and ideas with his views on today’s mad world of culture, politics and sport.
