Theatre Without Merit

Okay, I may regret this blog post, but there really is no benefit in not giving honest feedback. I just saw UNCG's production of Alice an "urban, techno remix" of Lewis Carroll's classics Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. And, I'm sorry to anyone who I offend or disagrees with me, but it was horrible.

To begin with, the sound was too loud. My ears were hurting during the pre-show and at the top when Alice's mother is yelling at her. My 7-year-old cousin had his hands over his ears. He asked to sit in the lobby before the show because he didn't like the loud noise. Later in the show, microphone use was inconsistent and garbled. Much of the talking couldn't be heard over the soundtrack and I left with a headache.

But the worst part was that the Carroll's story was lost. It appeared that the goal was to re-imagine the characters in a hip-hop style while ignoring the fact that Alice has to have a journey to find herself as a young woman. All too often the stage was muddled with action and visual stimulation. I couldn't tell what was going on, where we were, nor did I care. At no time did I feel for poor Alice. All I could think was, when will this be done? And while my 7-year-old cousin had moments of excitement over some of the spectacle (unicyclers and jugglers) he generally looked at me with confusion. Perhaps because he isn't old enough to have any frame of reference for much of the updates (a LOL-Cat as the Cheshire Cat, for instance) but isn't our target audience younger people? Shouldn't they get what we're talking about?

I will give credit to the production team: the costumes were fascinating. The props and puppets intriguing. The set interesting. And the lighting mesmerizing. But I felt that too much of the show was about spectacle. Sure, kids these days are more interested in Wii and movies than they are in old-fashioned theatre and story-telling, but, really? Do we have to perpetuate that? Do we have to assume that all our young audiences want is glitz and glam without substance? And for the poor parents and adults in the audience, sure we got the references to the classic book, but I doubt many adults really felt like it was money well-spent for them to sit through. A show for children should inspire kids to want to play make-believe and dress up, not pander to their dulled imaginations and attention-spans. And it should be something that the adults will say more than "Well, the kids liked it" when asked about it later. Truly, this production was not worth my time. Nor am I really happy, as a theatre-maker, to have shown this to my cousin as an example of my chosen profession. And I know I'm about to make a lot of people irate, but I'm a little embarrassed by the whole mess. UNCG can and does do better work (especially in the TYP program). I hope that we learn from this and strive for better, more-substance-filled, theatre with merit.