Lewis Carrol’s Alice in Wonderland and its sequel Alice Through the Looking Glass are widely considered to be two of the most twisted children’s stories ever imagined, but one group is seeing just how far they can twist the classic tale before it breaks. Chaotic Theatre’s Alice! takes all the surreal and wondrous moments of Carrol’s story and distills them down into a quick, haunting experience, moving the setting into an insane asylum and bringing out the most horrifying sections of the books to create a truly jaw-dropping experience. Not for the young, the sensitive, or the faint of heart, Alice presents us with one of the strangest renditions of Carrol’s magical trip ever created, sure to leave you with tingles down your spine and arms covered in goose bumps.
The Chaotic Theatre Company is a newcomer to the Austin theater game, with no real previous productions of note, but with an opening show like this, Austinites will realize quickly that they’re a group to watch out for. Alice! is one of the most frightening experiences Austin theater goers are likely to come across, with each black out between scenes leaving the audience wondering just what could be lurking in the dark. They have every reason to be worried, because the play’s characters have a penchant for running through the audience making horrible noises, even grabbing the ankles and arms of audience members, so one never knows what to expect when those lights go down. The happenings on stage are just as creepy, with the costume designs seeming to be pulled straight from collective nightmares, where even flowers take on a horrifying guise, 
and where friendly characters like Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee are transformed into monstrous creatures.
This does raise an important question, however. Any time a production strives so hard to reach one specific goal, in this case, making the audience feel unsettled, uneasy and frightened, they can lose sight of some of the most important elements of a play, story and character. So much of the staging, the lighting, the sets, and the costumes are designed, not necessarily to further the story or to help with characterization, but to provide a vehicle with which to frighten viewers. While this would be fine in a haunted house or shock show, this is less acceptable in a piece of theater.
That said, the play still contains some fine performances. Alexa Doggett’s Alice dances from coquettishness to shock, from insanity to naivete, slowly losing her mind, and taking the entire audience along with her. The Queen, played by Cassidy Claire Risen, is authoritative and menacing, tension mounting with each step she takes as she marches around the stage. Frank Frye’s Hatter is indeed mad, amazingly so, if a bit over-the-top, but his associate, the March Hare, played by Courtney Outlaw, doesn’t put quite enough into the role to make it .jpg)
interesting, and with a cast so full of wild, lavish performances, she simply gets lost in the wash. The rest of the cast trades off performing various roles, and each should be applauded for their range, bringing to life creatures that have only existed before in the audience’s darkest dreams.
A round of applause should also be given to Alice’s lighting and set designer, Stephen Shirey. His sets consist of little more than black coth and a slanted step, but the nightmarish visions he is able to fashion with clever and inventive lighting styles are simply astonishing. Not only that, but he also has an amazing sense of when to use darkness and shadow to their best effect, knowing that it’s the secretive, dark areas that hold the most horror. The play would not be half as effective without his brilliant technical work, and I cannot wait to see more from him the future.
Wildly imaginative and refreshingly unique, Chaotic Theatre’s Alice is one of the most terrifying experience you’ll find on Austin stages, with images that are sure to haunt your dreams for days after you see the performance. Director Justin LaVergne and Playwright James Jackson Leach should be lauded for their work in creating the piece, a nightmare that only some very creative young minds could have created. Though they’ve just begun, we can be assured that the future for this group is bright, as long as with their next outing, they pay a bit more attention to their story and characters, and a little less to creating a sense of dread.
For more info on the Chaotic Theatre Company visit their website at chaotictheatre.com, and be sure to visit vortexrep.com to purchase tickets. Photos courtesy of Kimberley Mead.
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