You don't want to be late for a very important date, do you? That was the question on the White Rabbits lips in this modern adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s classic tale at the Old Rep Theatre in Birmingham.

The story follows Alice on her journey through the enchanted and extraordinary Wonderland, meeting many peculiar characters along the way. From intriguing white rabbits, bizarre riddles, mad tea parties and dangerous encounters with the Queen of Hearts, will Alice ever find her way home? 

This much loved tale has been transferred to the stage by Director Scott Le Crass and ensures that the frankly quite bonkers story is told well, without some of the more extreme craziness that could be a little frightening for small children.

The intimate setting of The Old Rep theatre is the perfect introduction to theatre for school children and we understand that it is regularly attended for school trips. Ticket prices are £13.80 for children, £16.50 for adults but there are discounted rates for families and groups. The performance lasts for approx. 115mins including a 20 minute interval. For this particular show, there are two performances from Monday to Friday with one show on Saturday.. We were also impressed to note that they also have British Sign Language days and relaxed performance days (suitable for autistic spectrum) on selected dates.

Grace Dean takes the lead role of Alice with Alec Fellows-Bennett playing the Mad Hatter. Katie Paine plays the Queen of Hearts, Ewan Goddard is the White Rabbit, with Mark Collier and Laura Curnick playing the dual roles of the Caterpillar and Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee and Dormouse. Those characters playing multiple roles demonstrated their versaility and we were able to easily distinguish between each character and get swept along with the story. 

Despite Alice being the much loved central character, with Grace Dean creating the right balance of cute and childlike behaviour, the Mad Hatter was crowned our favourite character of the show, with his tea party songs being stuck in our heads for the remainder of the day. 

We're all mad here ......

So if you enjoy a little dose of madness and would like to see the show for yourself, it is running at The Old Rep Theatre until Saturday 30th December, making it the perfect family Christmas outing. 

Disclosure: We were invited to attend the show for the purpose of the review.

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