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Hallward’s House Play 2008

Alice in Wonderland

The Piece opened with a thunderous round of applause and cheers of excitement and finished with a standing ovation from supporting Hallward’s girls; Alice in Wonderland certainly proved to be a colourful experience. This year’s Hallward’s experience was quite literally, ‘all singing, all dancing’ with colourful and elaborate costumes, skilled music from Katie Longman and Rosie Quick and an inventive lighting scheme, adding to the atmosphere.

The story was told by Lizzie Nicol, in her role as Lewis Carroll. She proved a steady narrator who provided the main speaking part in a play of so many songs. Abi Hallworth took on the title role and she coped well with the demands of such a musical play. The cast was wide-ranging and swept across the years with Lizzie Lewis as the March Hare, proving to be the most notable third former and Sarah Moody’s hearty portrayal of the Cook a particular highlight from the Upper Sixth.

Under the direction of Charlotte Pierce, the cast were well-organised and professional, with each member involved in almost every song. The stage management of this play was a difficult challenge, with shape changing doors and tables proving a real problem. Unfortunately, even despite the difficulty, scene changes were often noisy, sloppy and props were often left on stage, which seemed to impinge upon the performance. Nevertheless, nothing could distract the audience away from the reliably light-hearted and warm feel of the performance, something we have come to expect from Hallward’s over the years. Despite this, my overriding impression was that the choice of play did no justice to what is on paper a relatively strong cast. I cannot help but feel that had a more challenging play been selected, the house would have had the opportunity to really pit themselves against this year’s heavyweights. That is perhaps the problem in choosing Alice in Wonderland: it may be jolly, colourful and entertaining, but does it really stand up to the likes of West Town, who also chose a musical, but one of altogether more challenging proportions?

Hallward’s provided an entertaining night out for the audience, full of light-hearted musical fun.

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