The Mad Hatter's Tea Party: an 'irresistibly feelgood production'

The Mad Hatter's Tea Party at the Royal Opera House

The Mad Hatter's Tea Party is 'compassionate yet comical'

(Image credit: Foteini Christofilopoulou)

published 12 September 2024

"This is hip-hop dance, and opera house rules do not apply." That's the message that comes through loud and clear at the start of "The Mad Hatter's Tea Party".

The 10th-anniversary run of ZooNation's staging of "Alice in Wonderland" has returned to the Royal Opera House in London, where it premiered a decade ago. And right from the outset the audience is encouraged to "make as much noise as possible", said Siobhan Murphy in The Stage.

The action begins in the "forbidding" Ward W at Ladrington Brook, a "Institution for Extremely Normal Behaviour", where a "motley collection of inpatients is kept under lock and key". Each of Lewis Carroll's characters has been given a backstory: the White Rabbit, for example, has OCD, while the Mad Hatter is suffering from mercury poisoning.

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Choreographer Kate Prince's "clever, anti-authoritarian take on Carroll's surreal world" blends a compassionate approach to mental health with "jubilant showbiz savvy", said Donald Hutera in The Times. Despite its hard-hitting subject matter, the show feels "light rather than heavy, compassionate yet comical".

An "irresistibly feelgood production", it's filled with "ebullient" dancing and a "disarming, beat-driven melange of funk, rap and house". Add to the mix Ben Stones's "wizardly costumes" and you're in for a real "treat".

At times "The Mad Hatter's Tea Party" strays too far into "didactic med- and psych- speak", which is "pushing it" for a show appealing largely to families, said Mark Monahan in The Telegraph. But there's a "poignancy" in the portrayal of the "damaged" inmates, and overall there's "so much fun to be had" that the show can be forgiven for its flaws.

Prince's choreography "works wonders", allowing each performer to "let rip magnificently", and while Act I is "bursting with goodies", the "pacier" Act II is an "undiluted joy". As for the cast, there is "no weak link"; Nethra Menon is a "beguilingly impish" Queen of Hearts, while Isaac Baptiste is a "lively and decidedly charming" Mad Hatter.

As the show draws to a close, the audience is asked whether anyone would like to join the cast on stage and the results are "marvellous". Watching a "tiny boy grooving gleefully with the March Hare spoke volumes about the show's all-enveloping wackiness and warmth".

"The Mad Hatter's Tea Party" is running until 24 September, Royal Opera House, London

Irenie Forshaw is a features writer at The Week, covering arts, culture and travel. She began her career in journalism at Leeds University, where she wrote for the student newspaper, The Gryphon, before working at The Guardian and The New Statesman Group. Irenie then became a senior writer at Elite Traveler, where she oversaw The Experts column.