By Lesley Eltringham
Ponteland Repertory Society with its Preppies Youth Theatre worked with enthusiasm on a very alternative musical production of ‘Alice’. The original story of Alice in Wonderland was followed but a modern interpretation by James Leisy and Carl Eberhard gave the Society a real challenge. The songs, which were very new and unknown to the cast, had to be learned from scratch, demanding concentration and endless rehearsal.
The Director, Jonny Woollett, used all of his drama coaching and theatrical skills to craft a final and genuinely intriguing production which demanded some thought from the adult audience whilst still entertaining the children who came along.
The leading role of Alice was shared between two of the young actors from the Preppies. Becky Conroy and Jasmine Lever proved to be convincing and interesting Alices. They are to be congratulated on rising to the difficulty of the role and the solo songs which they sang so well in performance thanks to the leadership of the Musical Director, Amy Baker.
Similarly many other actors contributed to a successful show, including Jules Stevenson Warrender as a very crazy Mad Hatter and Jason Long as the neurotic White Rabbit. Tweedledum and Tweedledee provided comedy played by the two teams of Abi Cuthbertson and Gigi Tanner and, in alternating performances, Amy Sparshott and Amelia Long. All the cast, backstage crew and front of house team, too many to name, worked hard to give our local, loyal audience a fun, pre-Christmas evening.