‘Lookingglass Alice’ aims to delight and remind us of the joys of childhood.
By: Anthony Stoeckert
Is it possible to feel like a child again? To put aside our worries over terrorism and the war in Iraq? To forget about the mortgage payment, deadlines and meetings and immerse ourselves into a childlike world of play and a belief that anything can happen?
The people behind the Lookingglass Theatre think so. The company’s production of Lookingglass Alice opens at McCarter Theatre in Princeton, Jan. 7. In 2007, the show will also hit Philadelphia and New York. The acclaimed production, which uses acting and acrobatics to tell the story of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, is truly intended to be fun for all ages.
According to its adapter and director (and founding member of Lookingglass Theatre) David Catlin, kids enjoy it for the story and physical antics, while adults often find an additional meaning.
"We were struck by this story in particular because with Lewis Carroll, there are many different levels," Mr. Catlin says. "You can enjoy Lewis Carroll for the crazy characters The Mad Hatter, The Cheshire Cat or the Red Queen you can enjoy it on that level alone. Or, if you scratch a little deeper, you can find layers that have some deeper meaning."
The Lookingglass Theatre troupe started out as a group of students from Northwestern University who put on an adaptation of the Alice stories written by David Schwimmer (who went on to sitcom stardom as Ross in Friends).
"It was a very physical acrobatic telling of the story, very ensemble-oriented," Mr. Catlin says. "It was the kind of thing where we rehearsed so long on it that we almost forgot we were producing a play. We were really exploring relationships and a physical language that was exciting to us."
The production did well on campus, then had success at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland during the summer of 1987. During all of this, the troupe members talked about what they wanted to do with their lives, as college students are wont to do. And it turned out that they wanted to do things like Lookingglass Alice.
"We just loved working in the ensemble format," Mr. Catlin says. "We loved this physical kind of theater that was somewhat acrobatic. And we loved working on a great story."
By 2003, the group had established a reputation in Chicago, and the city offered them the Water Tower Water Works, a landmark made of Joliet limestone that survived the great fire of 1871, as a theater space.
"Given that this was a big change for us, and a sign of maturation, (we thought) that it would be great to start working on an ‘Alice’ story," Mr. Catlin says. "(It was) sort of a sentimental remembrance of that first coming together with ‘Alice in Wonderland’ back in college."
Another impetus behind the new production is the fact that many of the members of Lookingglass now have children of their own, which resulted in seeing Mr. Carroll’s stories differently.
"We were kind of experiencing the world through our kids’ eyes again," Mr. Catlin says. "And one of the great messages, I think, that (Mr. Carroll) was telling (us) is that you may be in a hurry to grow up, but there are a lot of things that are really great about being a kid."
Those things include a child’s ability to believe in the impossible. For Mr. Catlin, theater is an extension of that ability as it’s a place adults go to believe in the incredible.
"For us, the central theme is about Lewis Carroll saying, ‘Don’t be in such a rush to become a queen because a lot of those things that seem fantastic about being grown up, maybe aren’t as thrilling as the qualities we have as kids,’" Mr. Catlin says. "I think the message is, if you’re an adult you have to remember, and sometimes practice, how to reinvent the world. We have to remember how to play, how to believe in the impossible."
Another defining aspect of the production is its acrobatics and physical comedy. The actors not only have to remember lines, they also have to contort their bodies, twirl and do backflips.
One of the nimble cast members is Lambertville resident Doug Hara. Mr. Hara was a student at Northwestern during the early days of Lookingglass Theatre, and was invited to attend a gymnastic class with the company. During one of those classes actor Larry DiStasi was working on a standing backflip, an ability acrobats develop over time, at least most acrobats do…
"Doug just tried a back handspring out of the blue and we yelled across the room, ‘You almost did a back handspring,’" Mr. Catlin says. "And he thought, across this loud gymnasium, that we said, ‘Do a standing back.’ So Doug, without any training or any kind of thought, throws himself in the air, spins around a full revolution and lands on his feet in a standing back. And all of our jaws just dropped to the floor. And Larry, who had been spending a year and a half on this and was farther along than any of us, was almost in tears over how naturally good Doug was."
The cast of Lookingglass Alice consists of Lauren Hirte as Alice and four actors playing all of the other parts. Mr. Hara plays The Mad Hatter, Humpty Dumpty, The White Rabbit, a hedgehog and one-third of a caterpillar. Playing all those roles makes every performance exciting for the actors as well as the audience.
"It’s pretty (intense) for all of us (actors), maybe even most especially for Alice, who never leaves the stage," Mr. Hara says. "We’re in and out of costumes, do a lot backstage, it’s kind of crazy onstage and off."
Lookingglass Alice has been a big success for the company. Its Chicago run was extended several times, allowing McCarter Artistic Director Emily Mann and Terry Nolan, artistic director at the Arden Theatre in Philadelphia (where Lookingglass Alice will be performed in May), to catch the show.
"It was such a success for us, we immediately started talking about whether we could find another space in Chicago and have an open-ended run… then continue with our regular season," says Mr. Hara, who grew up in New York before going to Northwestern. He moved to Lambertville about two-and-a-half years ago. "So I think, in the back of my mind, there was always the possibility that this was not the end of this show."
An actor/director couldn’t ask for much more than helping to establish a theater company that has its own style, and heading to McCarter is something Mr. Catlin is proud of.
"It could not be any more spectacular," Mr. Catlin say. "I have to say to be able to go McCarter and perform… I don’t know if people in New Jersey have a sense of how important McCarter is revered nationally, so to be able to go there is a huge feather in our cap. We feel really good about ourselves, and we feel fortunate."
Lookingglass Alice will play at McCarter Theatre, 91 University Place, Princeton,
Jan. 7-28. Performances: Mon.-Thurs. 7:30 p.m.; Fri. 8 p.m.; Sat. 3, 8 p.m.; Sun.
2, 7:30 p.m. For information, call (609) 258-2787. On the Web: www.mccarter.org.
Lookingglass Theater on the Web: www.lookingglasstheatre.org