First seen al fresco in 2012, Will Todd and Maggie Gottlieb’s free-wheeling, tongue-twisting adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s surreal children’s classic for Opera Holland Park gives voice to the curious and curioser characters of the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter, the Dormouse, Humpty Dumpty, Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, and a positively terrifying Queen of Hearts in music that darts from a coloratura showpiece for a singing Bottle to the smoky blues of a Caterpillar with no work ethic.
With designs adapted by Ceci Calf from Leslie Travers’s original sets, and lighting by Jacob Gowler, Martin Duncan directs a new production of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland devised for the main stage of the theatre. Dominic Ellis Peckham conducts a cast led by Alys Mererid Roberts (A Christmas Carol 2024) as Alice, while James Cleverton, Robert Burt (Itch 2023 and 2025) and Victoria Simmonds (Itch 2023 and 2025) return to the roles they created in 2013 as the White Rabbit, Queen of Hearts and Mad Hatter.
The production features the company debut of the celebrated cabaret and opera singer Le gateau chocolat as the Caterpillar, alongside Fleur de Bray as the Bottle, April Kodejo-Audiger as the Dormouse and Humpty Dumpty, and Madeline Robinson and Eleanor Broomfield as Tweedles Dum and Dee. Acclaimed across the press for its skilful blend of charm, sass and stylistic variety in its outdoor performances at Holland Park and indoors at the Linbury Studio of the Royal Ballet and Opera, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is scrumptious tea party for the senses, with a subversive streak of the absurd.
