The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party
30 August 2024
White Bear Theatre
3.0 out of 5.0 stars
Another dark production by Brother Wolf, The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party is an absurdist take on the beloved characters from Lewis Carroll’s world of madness. Staged at the White Bear Theatre, it’s a small production that is not afraid to fully inhabit its space despite the limitations of a black box pub theatre.
With a simple set of a long table set for a derelict tea party, with stained cups and mouldy bread, the Hatter and March Hare are snoozing in their seats as the audience takes their seats. The characters are as unkempt as the table setting, looking to have been stuck in this space for far longer than they were comfortable with.
With a sudden start the Hatter awakes, and this is where the madness starts. It is six o’clock, or thereabouts, it is tea time! It is always six o’clock, or thereabouts, it is always tea time. But there hasn’t been time to clear away, clean the dishes, make fresh tea, because there is no time between tea times. It is always six o’clock. Or thereabouts.
The Hatter, the March Hare, and a very dead Dormouse regale each other and the audience with absurd and confusing tales, spinning in and out of madness with funny wordplay, witty rhymes, and silly jokes aplenty. The whole scene is tinged in dark undertones, heightened by the confrontational approach of the Hatter, to the Hare as well as the audience, plunging everyone into the nonsensical madness of the perpetual time-loop that threatens to break the mind.
Desperate and intense, funny and clever, this absurdist play is entertaining and surreal. Perhaps a longer staging in which the characters had more time to dive fully into the bizarre stories they tangentially touch would bring more depth, reveal more of the characters, round the story out a little more.
