Review of
The Mad Tea-Party and Other Festival Skits,
by Alan Lance Andersen ISBN 9780557040032
Four out of five stars
Three short humorous skits/plays
Lewis Carroll,
a.k.a. mathematician/logician Charles Dodgson, wrote the “Alice in Wonderland”
books, arguably the best fiction books ever written in the English language. The
title work in this collection of three dramatic works is based on the tea-party
scene from “Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland.”
Since modern
readers are unfamiliar with some of the tenets of Victorian England, the Mad Tea-Party
is narrated by Carroll. The play is humorous, the interjection of Carroll’s
commentary lightens the heartedness of the skit. He is very much an active
character in the action.
The second skit
is called “Oliver’s Birthday Picnic” and it is based on the famous comedy duo
of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. The two comedians are having a picnic in an
area where there is a sign stating, “Keep off the grass.” Ever resourceful, the
two picnickers use the sign as a makeshift table. An office comes along to shoo
them away and the actions becomes classic slapstick with a concluding pie in
the face. The dialog and action is very much Laurel and Hardy with a hint of The
Three Stooges.
The third skit
is called “Barcelona” and is based on a nonsensical premise with very exaggerated
pseudo-Italian dialog. An officer encounters a crying woman that claims that
her husband Luigi was grabbed and carried off by a large dragon. Her first
major lines are, “What’s dat-a you say? He ask-a me ifa dere’s-a somathin’
wrong?? Somathin’ wrong!!” While there are times when the dialog breaks into
the normal, most of the lines by the female character have this form. There is
some humor, but it is weak as the dialog is simply too exaggerated.
Properly acted
while not being taken too seriously, these plays will be entertaining and fun
to produce. A list of the needed props for each play is given. They are few and
easily obtained.
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