Wonderland Under the Mall

So the latest Hollywood adventure into Wonderland seems to have been less than successful. One towering failure at the box office isn’t enough to tank a literary classic, though. Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice story continues to be quite popular. For the second time in recent memory, another local company is staging a brand-new work inspired by the classic children’s adventure into surrealism. 

Wonderland is Outskirts Theatre Company's adult foray into whimsy written and directed by Ryan Albrechtson. As the play features “adult themes, sexual content and explicit language,” Outskirts is recommending the show for those 16 years and older only. 

There’s a lot to draw from in Carrol’s original work. (One could write an entire piece based on Carroll’s Caucus race...or the initial fall into Wonderland or . . . well . . . it’s just a very, very dense work.) The cast seems to be pretty traditional, though. Madeline Conway plays Alice. There’s a White Rabbit, a Mad Hatter (Sam Sherman) a Cheshire Cat (Dyllan Brown.) Rebecca Switalski plays Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum and a Hare and The Flamingo...wow...of note here are Alyssa Renkas as Duchess and Gemma Fitzimmons as the Queen of Hearts. The young, local redheaded Brit  actress makes quite an impression. Odd that her name would peak my interest in the show when I’d only seen her in a few other things. She’s good, though. It’s nice to see her show-up in such an interesting role. 

Outskirts Theatre Co. presents Ryan Albrechtson’s  Wonderland Jun. 17 - 26 at The Underground Collaborative on 161 W. Wisconsin Avenue. For more information, visit Outskirts online.