Alice's Adventures in Wonderland--Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh

When Alice sees a snappily dressed white rabbit holding a pocket watch, she knows today is not going to be like any other – an adventure is beginning! Follow Alice down the rabbit hole and tumble into Wonderland - a place where everyone and everything seems to be stark raving mad and things keep getting ‘curiouser and curiouser’.

There are drinks to make you shrink smaller and cakes which make you grow taller. You’ll meet a mad March Hare, see a cat disappear, take advice from a caterpillar, and that’s just the animals! Will Alice ever be able to solve the Mad Hatter’s riddles or will it be ‘Off with her head!’ at the Queen of Hearts’ command?

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has been the best loved of all children’s stories for over 150 years. This Christmas The Lyceum will bring Lewis Carroll’s classic to life with a magical new production in a magnificent Victorian setting.

The critical consensus

Like a beautiful looking cake that barely tastes of anything, this Alice might look scrumptious but lacks much wonder.

(*) (*) Michael Cox, Across the Arts, 04/12/2016

There is much fun to be had with the wordplay that results from such encounters on Francis O'Connor's ever changing set, while Nick Powell's score is tinged with faux psychedelic undertones. Making her professional stage debut, Peet presents Alice as a strong, uber-smart independent woman in waiting.

(*) Neil Cooper, Coffee-Table Notes, 02/12/2016

A real Christmas treat, even for those not traditionally keen on the panto genre.

Jonny Sweet, TVBomb, 02/12/2016

If you love a healthy dose of puns and fun and a good helping of general unfathomableness, enter the curious colourful wonderland at the Lyceum and you might just leave grinning like the Cheshire Cat!

(*) Irene Brown, Edinburgh Guide, 02/12/2016

This balance between technology and old-fashioned theatrical magic is appropriate in a production that similarly achieves a balance between physical and verbal humour, and between what will appeal to both young and old.

(*) Hugh Simpson, All Edinburgh Theatre, 02/12/2016

Jolly good fun.

(*) Simon Thompson, WhatsOnStage, 02/12/2016

The Royal Lyceum maintains its sense of class, culture and fine theatre in these festive family months. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is nothing short of a visual triumph with a true heart of madness.

Dominic Corr, The Reviews Hub, 02/12/2016

There’s plenty here that’s pure Carroll, and it’s reassuring to see that the source material still inspires genuine laughs more than 150 years after its first publication.

(*) Paul F Cockburn, Broadway Baby, 03/12/2016

This production offers little new to the canon of works based on Alice, but is a finely crafted piece of pantomime-style camp.

(*) Ben Reiss, Plays to See, 04/12/2016

The whole production is a boggling, giddy juggling act of spinning visual tropes and delerious trompe l’oeil.

John Kennedy, The Edinburgh Reporter, 02/12/2016

The whole team have pulled out all the stops to make Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland both a bold statement of intent and an utterly magical night out.

Christine Irvine, Exeunt, 05/12/2016

A terrific show.

Stephanie Green, The Skinny, 05/12/2016

Neilson’s play is sharp and funny, with a tremendous sense of the rhythm of the story. Little wonder that this outstanding production’s two hours seem to fly by.

Mark Brown, Scottish Stage, 05/12/2016

A Christmas gift for Carroll fans and absurdists, if not necessarily for kids.

(*) Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman, 05/12/2016

Having established a tone of subdued whimsy – emphasised by Nick Powell’s delicate music-box melodies – the production takes us from scene to amusing scene with too little underlying sense of urgency.

(*) (*) Mark Fisher, The Guardian, 05/12/2016

A magical and truly enchanting experience.

(*) Adeline Amar, The List, 09/12/2016

Neilson’s production crackles with offbeat energy, and the perfectly attuned ensemble forges a genuine connection with the audience.

(*) Allan Radcliffe, 06/12/2016