FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 2025
Alice By Heart
Photo courtesy of Michael McEvoy
A rollicking and highly tuneful riff on a classic children's novel which challenges the mind and guides one's imagination seemingly everywhere all at once, Duncan Sheik, Steven Sater & Jessie Nelson's Alice By Heart makes its NI debut as a triumphant and lively accomplishment for MMK Productions. Director Kim Harper, choreographer Michael McEvoy, musical director Adam Darcy and a youthful, tremendously talented cast merge boldness with familiarity for inspiring rawness which clearly energises and elates a capacity audience of all ages at Belfast's Carlisle Memorial Church.
"Today he is your dearest friend. Tomorrow, a statistic." So speaks a Red Cross Nurse, in a chilling, dehumanising and foreboding tone, when underlining painful reality to heroine Alice Spencer, played by Erin Harding. For Alice's companion, Alfred Hallam, played by Sean Carron, is suffering from tuberculosis and quarantining in the Tube station where he and Alice shelter during the London Blitz of World War Two. It is apparent that both empathy and uplift are in short supply for our duo - what can they do but keep their bond going through beloved literature, like their cherished copy of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland? And what will they do once the Nurse finds their book and tears it in an act of dominantly protective control that Roald Dahl fans like yours truly will recognise only too well? Simple - Alice will be stirred up to bring the book to life by heart. Hence the title, and hence a gateway to a genuinely felt and most surprising perspective on the tale where everyone in the shelter barring Alice becomes a character in the book.
The context of this production of Alice By Heart is as fascinating as the composition is fantastical. The musical numbers wash over us like an eclectic jukebox of genres and are acted, danced and sung in a manner which simply entrances. Knowing that Alfred and Alice are on the edge, and both Erin Harding and Sean Carron are fantastic in their roles, ups the ante and demands the ensemble rise to the performative level of the leads, which they do. It's like a difficult juggling act, really, which means that rough elements are arguably inevitable, but the vigour and zest, along with a few very impressive comic performances, are more than powerful enough to carry and drive the proceedings. Two of many to watch are Beth Patterson's naturally devious Cheshire Cat and Neal Mullan's Duchess.
In this part-wartime, part-fantasy setting, featuring a live orchestra and striking window light in the background, Alice By Heart thrives - its stripped back design is staggeringly effective. The high ceilings of the church help to exhibit a damp hollowness while also expressing a beautiful openness, a depiction of emotional release from enforced mechanics on a large scale which is as close to perfect for a musical such as this as any stage in any venue can hope to be. It is boldly defiant of any sense of nostalgic triumphalism for the period - wistfulness and dreaminess are there to be confronted as well as appreciated, and the "wonderland" which the title character and her ailing friend seek to retreat into features plenty of confrontation and appreciation. Little or nothing in Wonderland may make sense visually, but it certainly makes sense thematically, especially here - during conflict, everyone at any age is likely to either have or long for their special "space", be it an escape from lamenting the loss of direction that they were most familiar with prior to the period, or a shield from the apparently interminable troubles around them. It's not only an enjoyable musical, it's a consideration of confusion and temptation, as one of several standout show tunes indicates lyrically: "who (knows) where to look, what to do and not do? ...How can (one) refuse when I tell (them to) follow?" I think of Alice By Heart as being one of many great definitions you can apply not only through heart but also to art – that being, countering the primary purpose of pure survival with the positivity of creative meaning, and the rewards therein.
Simon Fallaha
Alice By Heart runs at Carlisle Memorial Church, Belfast, until Saturday August 9. For more information, and tickets, click here.