Cir­ca’s pan­to this year is Alice in Won­der­land, and it is a mys­ti­cal jour­ney down the rab­bit hole (Mt Vic tun­nel), to dis­cov­er fun, some qual­i­ty Kiwi bangers, and utter mani­cism (in a good way).

Writ­ten by Cir­ca stal­warts, Gavin Ruther­ford and Simon Leary (who play the Dame and the Mad Hat­ter respec­tive­ly), it’s a tale as old as time — Alice fol­lows the White Rab­bit through to Won­der­land, where the Red Queen — a thin­ly-veiled Jacin­da Ardern — has been turned evil by her new pet, the Jab­ba­wocky (no bets as to which local polit­i­cal fig­ure that’s meant to be).

Togeth­er, the Dame, Alice, the Hat­ter and the White Rab­bit — along­side a reluc­tant Twee­dle­dum and Twee­dledee — must save them­selves and stop the Jab­ba­wocky before the Red Queen cuts off all their heads.

Cir­ca’s pan­tos are always very well done, and a great time for the whole fam­i­ly, and Alice is no excep­tion.

The per­for­mances are very strong — Jonathan Mor­gan bring­ing some strong vogue­ing in as the Red Queen being one of my high­lights — and the musi­cal num­bers are just fan­tas­tic.

This year, all the musi­cal moments are Kiwi songs, and the cast revi­tal­ize a mix­ture of old clas­sic Kiwi bangers, as well as some new­er hits. I very much appre­ci­at­ed the inclu­sion of Opshop’s Maybe as one of the through­lines of the show, as well as Th’ Dudes’ Bliss.

Pan­tomimes are fun for the whole fam­i­ly, and this one is no excep­tion. Though there are moments that are a lit­tle sauci­er, and some jokes about pol­i­tics, any kids in the audi­ence would be hard-pressed to not enjoy them­selves dur­ing such a delight­ful and fab­u­lous piece. I cer­tain­ly did, and I was a child­less solo audi­ence mem­ber. It’s a damn good time.

Ring in the hol­i­day sea­son with this bit of fun. You absolute­ly won’t regret it.

 

Alice in Won­der­land is on at Cir­ca The­atre in Welling­ton until the 22nd of Decem­ber. Grab your tick­ets here!