BASH’s Drama Club gave a maddeningly good performance last week, performing a play rendition of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. The play attracted a packed theater of parents, students, and staff alike and was met with a roar of applause after each and every scene. The play was part of the Drama Club’s annual fall play, and they will be performing another play this Spring as well.
For those who haven’t read the book or forget the movie (because lets be honest, everyone has seen the movie at some point): Alice in Wonderland follows Alice, a young girl who’s birthday is today, and her adventures as she falls down the rabbit hole into wonderland. Over her journey Alice meets many a strange face while attempting to find her way home, and is guided by her new friend Cheshire Cat. Alice eventually gets into some trouble when the Queen of Hearts finds her guilty of stealing tarts, and demands her executioner “off with her head!” Eventually Alice is able to find an exit, but learns she will never be able to return to Wonderland and that she must eventually grow up as all kids do.
Each and every scene was done very creatively; most notably how reusing the same door prop for each door made sense since everything in Wonderland feels connected and it adds to that feeling of just going mad. Additionally the creative placement of Cheshire Cat’s actor behind different props, or even under a table during an entire scene, to mimic the appearance of being only a head or a smile was a nice spin and quite nice.
Every role was played superbly by all the amazing members of the cast, but that being there were some performances that stood out from the rest that I’d just like to point out. First of all I’d like to point out that the Mad Hatter (played by Leo Heft) did a wonderful job of being completely nonsensical in their mannerisms while still conveying their lines in a way that made them both understandable and
interesting, and trust me I mean this as the highest compliment! Afterall: “words can mean whatever I want them to,” as Humpty Dumpty (played by Hailey Gress) would say to Alice. And of course I would be remiss to neglect the two amazing leads of the show Alice (played by Kasey Mallon) and Cheshire Cat (played by Hana Lafond) who did excellent in both of their roles and really brought me into the story. Additionally I liked both the Quenn of Hearts (played by Maggie Vasquez) and the King of Hearts (played by Sam Elliot) who did great at playing the cards they were dealt (pun intended) and portrayed two incompetent, maniacal, villains who should never have been put into power very well.
With the different stage effects, from a background spin as Alice falls into wonderland, a blue pipe playing Jazz when blown into, or an unprompted musical number during “Beautiful Soup” where the Mad Hatter inexplicably appears with a guitar, the stage crew did a great job at bringing you into the atmosphere of Wonderland.
“It’s amazing,” Hana Lafond said, echoing the thoughts of many other members of the drama club who were interviewed. Leo Heft also said that while the Drama Club can be stressful, “I love everyone here and I love working with them.”
We’re excited for the Drama Club’s next performance in spring, and thank them for their amazing performance of Alice in Wonderland.
