The Cast Photo by Evan Hanover

Directed by Derek Van Barham and Brittney Brown, this Midwest premiere production ably conjures both the fantasy and the painful reality of these people and the war raging above them. Alice (Caitlyn Cerza) starts reading the novel aloud, but is interrupted by the officious voices of the doctor (Darien Goulding) and nurse (Niki-Cherise Franco) assigned to the station, who are not interested in indulging a childish fantasy. (Within the world of that fantasy, these two will become the Jabberwocky and the Queen of Hearts, which neatly sums up what Alice thinks of them.) When Franco's nurse goes so far as to rip out the pages of the book, Alice insists on continuing anyway, saying she knows it "by heart." And so she goes on, trying to save her best friend Alfred (Joe Giovannetti) by turning him into the White Rabbit.

The otherworldly nature of the Carroll story easily echoes that of what is happening in the real world where these people are desperately trying to survive the falling bombs. As they hide out in the station, ducking under whatever shelter they can find, Alice's story transforms them from terrified people into the inhabitants of Wonderland. The Caterpillar (Elliot Esquivel) wants to calm Alice down by getting her to take a toke of his pipe. The Mad Hatter (Will Lidke), who is losing his own grip on reality, holds his tea party while cranking up his animosity toward Alice just for being there. (Both Esquivel and Lidke are perfect in these roles.) The Queen of Hearts (Franco) is as menacing as ever, threatening to take Alice's head for committing the serious breach of Wonderland protocol by growing up. ("Found yourself too big for picture-books?" she chides. "Isn't it a trial to try and stay a child?")

From the start, though, Alice does have a Wonderland ally: the Cheshire Cat (or, as Alice calls her, "Cheshire Puss"). Mizha Overn is much more than a vanishing smile here: she gives the Cat a powerful empathy for Alice, urging her to remember that Alfred is dying and as much as she might "kick at heaven or cry out to the sky," Alice cannot change that. "Some things fall away," she tells the girl who is desperately holding onto the belief that "If we never move forward, I never have to leave (Alfred) behind," as if she could "simply stop the story here," before his death.

The set pieces we all remember from the novel–the Jabberwock, the tea party, the Mock Turtle (played by an unrecognizable Alex Stetkevich), the "trial," etc.–play out as we'd expect them to. (There is even a "Lobster Quadrille.") The core of this play, though, is in the real world where Alfred is near his death. As he fades, he sings a plaintive song imploring her to "find another room in your head" to remember him. "What will you do," he asks, "when I'm not here with you and you sit here and you're not with me?"

Van Barham and Brown's excellent cast (which also includes Ezra Borrero as the Dormouse, Patrick O'Keefe as the Duchess, and Emily Ling Mei and Peter Stielstra as young versions of Alice and Alfred) brings this complicated, multidimensional play to life, and the directors' original movement and choreography make full use of the simple G "Max" Maxin IV set to do so. Maxin, as lighting designer, and Matt Reich as sound designer both understand how to handle the unusual basement space at the Chopin Theatre, a "stage" broken up by wide concrete pillars that can't help cutting into sightlines. Rachel Sypniewski's costumes and Syd Genco's makeup define both the men and women (and children) hiding in the subway and the imaginative and outlandish characters they play. Out of sight, Heidi Joosten's five-piece ensemble accompanies the actors beautifully.

Alice by Heart is not the fever dream that Carroll's book is (though there are times when it seems like everyone involved has been smoking from the Caterpillar's pipe). If this play takes us down the rabbit hole, it remains close to the surface. The frequent real-world intrusions keep it grounded and provide for honest emotional investment, and our ultimate takeaways come from that investment instead of silly fantasy scenes. Alice is forced, like so many in wartime, to grow up far more quickly than she'd like and to face horrors no child should have to face. The Queen tells her, "You can no longer not know what we mean," and neither can we.

Alice by Heart, a Kokandy production, runs through September 29, 2024, at Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division, Chicago IL. For tickets and information, please visit KokandyProductions.com