Down the rabbit role with Alice and the White Rabbit
Cirque Alice is breathtakingly good fun, pure entertainment for all ages. Drawing on Lewis Carroll’s famous characters, we are invited to join Alice and venture down the rabbit hole to meet the Tweedles, the Caterpillar, the Queen of Hearts and various other creatures who peopled the books – the difference being that all these incarnations are highly trained performers from all over the world.
It’s all glitz and bright lights and full-on, blending its own verson of Wonderland with opera, acrobatics, classical music, gymnastics, ballet and contortion. We meet the White Rabbit first, in the form of violinist Raphael Papo, and Alice, of course, embodied by Australian soprano Layla Schillert, whose clear voice and curiosity lead us into this world of make-believe.
From then on its fast and fabulous, with one amazing act after another, among them The Tweedles (Temesgen Adole Zada and Leul Derreje Ashebir) who twist and tumble in striped splendour; aerial gymnasts The Flamingos (Anna Stelmakh and Evgenii Slepukhin; the Caterpillar, embodied by four contortionists (Munkhjin
Tuvd, Bayarmaa Ganbat, Shinechimeg Otgonbayar, Dolgorsuren Ganbold), whose seemingly impossible body movements may make your eyes water; and the acrobatic Queen of Hearts (Veronika Ivanova) – all of whom command your attention for every minute they are on – or above – the stage.
For me though the standouts were The Knights, who are the Ramadhani Brothers, Fadhili Rashidi and Ibrahim Mwaimise – their antics, and muscular sense of balance, are just jaw-dropping – and, above all, comedian and emcee the Mad Hatter (Paul Dabek). He holds the whole show together with his quick wit, his magic tricks and his force of personality.
With a stage presence like no other, Dabek is wonderfully entertaining; Cirque Alice would not be the same without him. I wish I could take credit for this remark, which was overheard from the row behind me – “He’s so funny! My make-up has melted!” You get the picture; Dabek gets the laughs.
There’s a vigorous soundtrack, too, by composers Marius Christiansen and Martin Raabe-Olsen, which references classics such as Carmen and the music from Game of Thrones, but with a modern twist. The show is produced by Tim Lawson and Simon Painter, and is at the Lyric Theatre until 11 October – part of a worldwide tour.
Tickets from $69-$149, with transaction fees (of course)
More at cirquealice.com
