| Peter and Alice | |
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| Written by | John Logan |
| Characters | Peter Llewelyn Davies,Alice Liddell Hargreaves |
| Date premiered | 25 March 2013 (2013-03-25) |
| Place premiered | Noël Coward Theatre, London |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Drama |
| Setting | Bookshop, London |
Peter and Alice is a play by American writerJohn Logan based on the meeting of 80-year-oldAlice Liddell Hargreaves andPeter Llewelyn Davies, then in his thirties, in a London bookshop in 1932, at the opening of aLewis Carroll exhibition. It was first staged inLondon in March 2013, directed byMichael Grandage. The portrayal of Carroll and Liddell in the play is very loosely inspired by Anne Clarke's 1981 biographyThe Real Alice.[1]
The play is based on a meeting between Alice Liddell Hargreaves, the woman who inspiredAlice, and Peter Llewellyn Davies, one of the boys who inspiredPeter Pan, at the opening of a Lewis Carroll exhibition in 1932. The play sees enchantment and reality collide as this brief encounter lays bare the lives of these two characters.
The original production was directed byMichael Grandage, staged at theNoël Coward Theatre inLondon in March 2013 and starringJudi Dench as Alice andBen Whishaw as Peter.[2]
Understudies included:
Reviews for the production were positive for the play.Michael Billington inThe Guardian wrote: "It's not a play that shocks or startles by its insights, but the reward lies in watching Dench and Whishaw recreate the agony and the ecstasy of inherited fame.".[2]Charles Spencer inThe Telegraph wrote: "It’s a beautiful and searching play that will live long in the memory".[3]Libby Purves inThe Times wrote "A meeting of two childhood muses, played by Judi Dench and Ben Whishaw, breaks your heart open".[4]
However, there was some criticism of the play.Henry Hitchings inThe Evening Standard wrote: "this is a piece that uses lush language to compensate for its lack of real dynamism".[5] Lewis Carroll scholar Franziska Kholt, ina article forThe Lewis Carroll Review, criticised the portrayal of "Carroll as needy and creepy"[1] and also criticised Logan's way of characterising events. "the inaccuracy of the events recalled... suggests either, that Logan thinks the characters actually lied about their own past, or, that Logan read Alice's biography, and (quite literally) "sexed it up"
Peter and Alice was staged by the smallSouth Australian theatre company,Independent Theatre, which has an established relationship with Logan, in August 2014. Directed by Rob Croser, the production was staged at theSpace Theatre at theAdelaide Festival Centre.[6] It was the company's 100th production, in their 30th year of existence. The lead roles were performed by Pam O’Grady andWilliam Cox.[7] Reviews were generally good, with both the acting and Croser andDavid Roach's set design praised;[8][9] however one reviewer found it "a bit too practiced".[7]
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result | Ref |
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| 2014 | Laurence Olivier Award | Best New Play | Nominated | [10] | |
| Best Actress | Judi Dench | Nominated | |||
Works byJohn Logan | |
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