JULIA THOMAS unpicks the mental processes that explain why book-to-film adaptations so often disappoint
A reimagined story for a contemporary London audience
L-R Toyin Ayedun-Alase as Chatter and Nkhanise Phiri as Alice
[Helen Murray]
CONRAD LANDIN thrills to the voice of 79-year-old Emmylou Harris, that is enriched rather than compromised by the gravel of experience
The debut novel by Uruguayan Eugenia Ladra, and poetry by Gerardo Diego
RICHARD MURGATROYD appreciates a study that urges us to think about water differently, as a living entity with its own logic and intelligence
New releases from Zulu Guitar Blues, Fela Kuti, and Amadou & Mariam
IAN SINCLAIR revels in the reissue of great recordings by one of the most recognisable and radical voices in British music
Alice in Wonderland
Brixton House, London SW9
ONE OF the great things about Lewis Carroll’s 1865 classic, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, is that it’s so transferable — it easily works as a reimagined story for a contemporary London audience.
Lead writer and director Jack Bradfield transports us to south London’s Brixton in 2022, and 11-year-old Alice (a very impressive Nkhanise Phiri) doesn’t want to go to her nan’s.
She gets into a huge row with her mum on the Tube, where Alice suddenly jumps onto a train going in the opposite direction as the doors close shut.
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GEORGE FOGARTY is captivated by a brilliant one-man show depicting life in HMP Strangeways
MAYER WAKEFIELD recommends a musical ‘love letter’ to black power activists of the 1970s
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by characters so un-nuanced as to be unreal, a stereotypical plot and a conceptual vampire
PAUL DONOVAN applauds an adaptation that draws out the contemporary relevance of George Orwell’s satire