Alice's Adventures Underground

Robert, aged 12, writes about an evening out which we shared - and loved - in London: 

Mum and I went to Alice’s Adventures Underground and it was genuinely the best night out I’ve had in years. Alice’s Adventures Underground is an immersive performance based on Lewis Carroll’s book, Alice in Wonderland. Throughout the show every person has decisions to make that will influence the rest of their personal journey, meaning you can do something completely different to everyone else.  

Near the beginning we saw the White Rabbit and one of the queen's guards eating and drinking. Whenever the two ate, they seemed to grow larger and whenever they drank, the pair seemed to shrink. This led on to the first decision of the night, to eat or drink. Whichever action you choose corresponds to a door you have to walk through and both these doors lead to completely different stories. Mum and I chose to eat (meaning hearts or diamonds) and had a fantastic time but from what I’ve heard, choosing to drink (clubs or spades) is equally great. 

The journeys are split up into lots of sections, each unique to the suit you get after entering the doors (e.g hearts, diamonds…). Most of the scenes and rooms are really hands on and involve loads of jokes. A lot of the scenes also included bits of magic that was genuinely mind-blowing. One of our scenes was quite creepy and another involved a song that was really quite beautiful. 

The sets were so imaginative and amazing. They were all incredibly detailed with small touches that most people don’t even look at but added to the atmosphere of the story. Everything was done at the perfect time like when two suits mixed to see the same thing but were then split up quickly afterwards. Conversations between the characters were written so well, they were exciting and had no boring gaps. One of our section involved spying on another group and the things we saw were important later on, it was things like that made it so fun and exciting. 

Everything was so clever (the lines, plot and props) and I would’ve loved to learn what the other groups did. There were four main possible pathways to the story so you could definitely go back again. All the groups met for a very quirky tea before being escorted to a courtroom with a hilarious court case that involved all the four suits at the end. 

For me it was 90 minutes of sheer brilliance where every section connected to another. I loved it and would really recommend going while you still can.  

Alice's Adventures Underground is on at the Vaults (near Waterloo Station) in London until September 23rd. There are a variety of ticket options available, ranging from a standard ticket for £54 on a weekend evening, to £39 for a weekday evening. There are also cheaper tickets for certain performances if you're under Under-26, and more expensive options if you go for the Premium ticket, which grants you a cocktail, programme and edible treat. You can find out more about all these options on the website.

Disclosure: We were given two free tickets in order to write a blog post, but all the thoughts contained in it are our own.

Do note that there is also a version for the under-10s, which will obviously be very suitable for children. The lovely Nell from Pigeon Pair and Me has written a post on this from when she went to this show. And it also sounds great! It's on until September 3rd.

(In case you are wondering about the lack of photos from the show, you aren't allowed to take pictures during the performance),

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