Our family saw Alice through the Looking Glass at Stratford the other day. It was very pretty, the staging was clever and imaginative, the actors were good (though an Alice closer to her calendar age might've been nice, and seeing so many male actors grin in drag was weird), the surprise presents for the audience were surprising, and the recorded music was well-recorded.

The play however ... I just couldn't get into it. I'm a fan of Monty Python and Douglas Adams and even Lewis Carroll, so absurd/witty nonsense is A-OK with me. But on stage, this one doesn't seem to work. With some such material, one needs time to reflect upon it. But with the live stage, there is no pause button and no rest for the eyes. Much of the repartee seemed sort of perfunctorily confusing, as if it was simply taking pleasure in constantly not making sense, as opposed to being satirical or even funny. And character drama? Hardly any.

But I'm no theatreologist, so don't believe me.