Alice’s Adventures Underground

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I love immersive theatre and recently I visited Alice’s Adventures Underground, a show held at The Vaults in Waterloo, performed by Les Enfants Terribles to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the publication of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I’ve written a review here, but I thought I would go into my experience in more detail, as I want to be sure of remembering it all. Please note, the following may contain spoilers!

I arrived at the venue and, after a short wait in the bar, we were taken to the first room of the experience, a gorgeous Victorian study full of books, papers and developing photographs – perhaps in homage to Lewis Carroll’s interest in photography? Even here, it was obvious that nothing was quite as it seems – the bookcases were curved as if to fit a rabbit hole, with nothing but magic to keep the books from falling out.

There was a mirror in the corner of the room, and we could see Alice, trapped and unable to get out. The clock chimed and a hidden door in the wall flew open, revealing a passageway lined with the pages of books. We made our way tentatively through the tunnel, to find ourselves “falling” down the rabbit hole, as Carroll’s words were read out by a hidden voice somewhere above us.

Once again the doors flew open and we found the White Rabbit waiting for us; he introduced us to Wonderland and invited us to eat or drink to determine the route we would take. The set here was incredibly clever, using visual tricks to make it look as if you really were growing smaller or larger depending whether you chose the “Eat Me” or “Drink Me” route. I chose “Drink Me” and followed the White Rabbit, who smuggled us into Wonderland away from the eyes of the Queen’s border guards. I was hoping to keep my little “Drink Me” bottle as a souvenir, but sadly it was taken away.

did get to keep my playing card: we were each given one of these which determined the group we would belong to for the rest of the evening. In a small woodland area we all met the Cheshire Cat, an incredible puppet who was chilling and magical.

We then split into our groups: I was a Club, and we first of all visited the Duchess in her kitchen, complete with pig baby. We helped to make some “soup” and were hustled into the office of the Knave of Hearts, in which we ended up having to eat the evidence – a plate of jam tarts. Again, the detail in each room was astounding, and all the characters were incredibly well drawn.

A visit to Tweedledum and Tweedledee saw us huddle down in an attempt to avoid the brothers swinging about over us, and squirting us with water pistols. Fortunately our next visit was much more relaxing: a trip upstairs to lounge with the Caterpillar (another amazing puppet) in his lair.

Throughout all of this, we were aware that we were part of the rebel forces fighting against the Queen – who was trying to stamp out all the “nonsense” in Wonderland – and we had to learn a special Raven hand signal. We were introduced to “Bill” the Lizard, the leader of this gang, before we made our way into the garden – full of white roses being painted red – and then a spooky vault containing a long table: the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.

Following some party antics, we were taken through to the courtroom for the grand finale. It was at this point that I really began to appreciate the amount of thought and care that had gone into the production. It became apparent that the Clubs (of which I was one) and the Spades belonged to the rebels, while the Hearts and the Diamonds were on the side of the Queen. Each group had their own role to play in the ensuing conflict – would the Queen be defeated and Alice be released?

I thought this experience was truly amazing, one of the most detailed and best thought out immersive theatre experiences I’ve ever enjoyed. I wouldn’t have missed it for anything, and I wonder if I could manage to get back before it closes at the end of August to take the “Eat Me” route…