A fine start to
Centaur’s 51st year

Alice and the World We Live In is loosely based on Lewis Carroll’s classic tale

By Byron Toben

Since the Centaur Theatre was created 51 years ago under the artistic direction of Maurice Podbrey, it has included in its selections of world and Canadian plays a number of accomplished or promising local authors. Witness David Fennario, Vittorio Rossi, Bowser and Blue, Bill Brownstein, Marianne Ackerman, Annabel Soutar, Colleen Curran, Ann Lambert and Alexandria Haber.

Ms Haber’s most recent work, Alice and the World We Live In, marks a further plateau in her accomplishments. Always noted for a keen ear in human relationships coupled with a sense of humour, she now extends this into fantasy, surrealism and existentialism.

As the title indicates, it is (very) loosely based on Lewis Carroll’s classic tales of the pre teen Alice and her visits to Wonderland, let alone Beyond the Looking Glass.

However, as it is set on a steep mountain trail which generates lots of self examination talking, it reminded me of James Baldwin’s great 1953 novel, Go Tell It On The Mountain. (I had met Baldwin in the mid 50s in London, UK, introduced by a mutual friend, a Trinidadian filmmaker.)

Ms Holmes must be credited for urging Ms Haber into converting the plot into a focused two-hander from its original draft involving seven characters as presented at an Infinitheatre dramatic reading.

On this mountain, a grown up Alice (mid 30s?), played wondrously well by Jane Wheeler, is perched on said mountain, possibly contemplating suicide as she bemoans the tragic death of her husband by terrorist attack in a super market

Her late husband Ever’s ghost (Daniel Brochu) appears and their conversation examines how they first met, what was his last thought upon his last moment of life, how their lives could have been different if they had done this or that.

It becomes apparent that she views the stream of life as malleable, subject to change by our desires or will power, and he, that it is bounded by the limitations of the world we live in.

To emphasise that the two are on different time-space planes, they never actually touch each other, although coming close before an invisible barrier intercedes. I had suspected that this detail was another clever directorial touch by Centaur head Eda Holmes, but Ms Haber assured me that she had written it into the script.

Ms Holmes must be credited for urging Ms Haber into converting the plot into a focused two-hander from its original draft involving seven characters as presented at an Infinitheatre dramatic reading.

The original Alice story has had a zillion film or cartoon versions going back to silent movie days, as have stories of deceased lovers re-establishing contacts. I could not think of any major stage plays pursuing this however, save for Noel Coward’s Blythe Spirit. Often played as background to that drama, is Irving Berlin’s song Always. Here is Ella Fitzgerald’s version.

Alice and the World We Live In continues at the Centaur until November 3.
514 288-3161
centaurtheatre.com

Images: Andrée Lanthier

Read more articles from Byron Toben

Byron Toben, a past president of The Montreal Press Club, has been WestmountMag.ca’s theatre reviewer since July 2015. Previously, he wrote for since terminated web sites Rover Arts and Charlebois Post, print weekly The Downtowner and print monthly The Senior Times. He also is an expert consultant on U.S. work permits for Canadians.