By Diane de Beer

JANICE HONEYMAN’S ALICE IN WONDERLAND

Venue: Mandela at the Joburg Theatre

Creative Team:

Director: Janice Honeyman

Associate Director: Tim Le Roux

Musical Director: Dale Ray

Choreographer: Khaya Ndlovu Mpehle

Lighting Designer: Johan Ferreira

Costume Designer: Mariska Meyer

Production Designer and AV Design: Andrew Timm

Assistant Production Designer: Adino Trapani

Set Designer and Builder: Enos Ramoroko

Sound Designer: Akhona Bozo

Principals supported by fantastic ensemble:

Lewis Carroll (Russel Savadier); Alice (Ashley Scott); The White Rabbit (Bongi Archi); Queen of Hearts (Brenda van Rhyn); the Cheshire Cat (Siya Makakane); Caterpillar (Lesedi Rich), Dame (Desmond Dube), Mad Hatter (Charlie Bouguenon); Jack of Hearts (Danny Meaker) and the full ensemble.

It’s no surprise that this year’s pantomime has taken Janice Honeyman’s annual pantomime to new heights. Not only does the title encourage you to let your imagination go, but technology has also made enormous strides in the past decade.

Every year it seems as though everyone involved grows as magnificently as the technical advances allow, without being overwhelmed. After all, everything about the medium and this particular tale encourages you to go wherever your imagination takes you.

And Honeyman and her team are certainly up to that challenge. For those of us who have simply seen too many pantomimes, these advances have been a blessing, turning something that might have become a chore into a fantastical adventure.

What are they going to be doing next? Janice simply never lets go. She has many tricks up her panto sleeve, and as fast as she catches up with what is available on the tech side, it’s on stage and we are the lucky recipients of all the magic that is managed rather than overwhelmed.

This year it’s all about colour, and it’s there in the fullest, brightest blaze and simply impossible to resist. (A pesky male sitting on my right kept taking pictures and slurping through his drink, trying his best to distract me, but fortunately to no avail!)

Everyone else was on their best behaviour and fully immersed in the brilliant bounty on stage. And as always, Honeyman’s secret weapon, even with all the dazzle in the world, is her cast. She knows how to pick them and turn out performances of solid gold with a script that she has honed over the decades. It takes a fast ear and a clear mind to catch all the one-liners, the sassy sarcasm, and the delightful chirps between the different characters throughout.

It all starts with Alice, the young girl (pictured in blue) who has to establish and navigate her own wonderland. The bonus (for me) was not to be familiar with Ashley Scott’s pervious work, even though she has quite a resumé, but someone had whispered to me that she was something special – and I agree. She commands the stage effortlessly. Her ease is possibly the result of her accomplishments as an actor, singer and dancer, the much-desired triple threat. This is obviously where she belongs and shines.

As the Queen of Hearts, Brenda van Rhyn’s undeniable stature and style would have been ample but there’s also the explosive confidence of someone who easily owns the stage. It’s marvellous to see how this performer demands the attention which is well deserved. Her presence is unavoidable which fortunately becomes this queen.

But there’s more to a show than a single performer, and probably everyone will have their favourites. For me, it was Lesedi Rich (pictured left) with the most exquisite voice. As the caterpillar, he stole my heart. His voice was my clarion call, simply mesmerizing.

And how could one not fall in love with Desmond Dube’s (centre) every performance? He works the room with that million-rand smile of his even before he says a word.

I can also add the names of Russel Savadier as the much revered author Lewis Carroll and Charlie Bouguenon as the eccentric Mad Hatter. Everyone on that stage fits their chosen part and adds to what is easily a perfect panto, but then they usually are.

Janice and her team do it every year. Just when I think I have seen it all, she delivers yet another explosive firecracker of a panto. She showed us at the beginning of her career that she is the eternal child in an adult body, and all these decades of one panto after another, each with its own va-va-voom, prove her right.