Hall -- December 8-17.

Stunning sets and lavish costumes -- despite current trends in New York and London -- do not a production make.

A valiant effort, with some fine individual performances from the large cast, was not enough to save the BMDS annual Christmas production of `Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass'.

Barely 15 minutes into the show, it was apparent that this year's seasonal extravaganza was going to fall victim to possibly the worst criticism that can be levelled at a children's show -- that of excruciating boredom.

Alice's antics in Wonderland were simply not adventurous enough; the plot, already thin in terms of theatrical action, and in spite of Alice's presence in almost every totally disjointed scene, had no sense of climax, let alone continuity.

The end result more resembled a slow-moving review rather than a musical play.

This was all the more surprising since the director, Davilia David, imported from London for the occasion, is an acclaimed actress and director who also teaches at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Credentials do not come much better than this.

So what went wrong? The answer would seem to lie both in the choice of play and then the decision to use the hoplessly dated (1943) dramatisation by Clemence Dane. Surely even the most theatre-weary Daylesford habitue m could have grasped the fact that `Alice', a quintessential English work, requires an audience of some sophistication. At least a passing familiarity with the book's characters and some appreciation of `literary' language is an assumption that may have been valid in Miss Dane's time but one that would seem wildly optimistic today ("we called him tortoise because he taught us'' is not guaranteed to drive your average kid wild with mirth).

There was a half-hearted attempt to copy the proven panto ploy of giving some of the characters Bermudian accents, with Tweedledum and Tweedledee (Kathy Kawaley) doing their best with this one. In fact, there was a constant feeling that this was a play which regretted very much that it was not a pantomime. So did the audience.

The other problem with the Clemence Dane version is the music by `Warsaw Concerto' composer, Richard Adinsell which, again, has not stood the test of time.

Thanks to some frantic re-writing and interpolations by musical director Marjorie Pettit, with the help of Doug Frith and James Burn, a few spots of calypso, rap and a sing-along to the strains of `Die Fledermaus', brought almost the only sparks of animation of the night from an otherwise bemused audience. The measure of their problem was that the famous line, "Will you walk a little faster, said the lobster to the quail'' led to a foxtrot. This was changed to a calypso.

The self-possessed nine-year old Rebecca Faulkenberry looked every inch the Alice of the story book and must be congratulated for her sheer stamina in a role that kept her on stage throughout. She apparently had no difficulty in memorising this lengthy piece and she revealed a sweet and strong singing voice. Her diction sometimes lacked clarity -- though whether this was the fault of the miking system or a directorial fault that allowed her to address much of the dialogue with her back to the audience, was not altogether clear.

The outstanding performance of the show was that of Teresa Sousa as the Red Queen, who with an unexpectedly Brooklyn-type accent, provided almost all the comic relief in this show and thus established an instant rapport with the audience.

The opium-smoking Jamaican Caterpillar (beautifully portrayed by Steve Parkinson), lounging languidly on top of a toadstool and declaring "I'm exactly three inches high'' brought one of the few guffaws of the night.

Edmund Robinson, who made a successful panto debut with the title role in `Sinbad' two years ago, was an engaging and suitably energetic White Rabbit.

Bounce busily about as he might, however, he was never able to develop this potentially delicious role.

Annette Gibbons brought her usual professionalism to the role of the ghastly Queen of Hearts and among the newcomers, there were promising performances from Veronica McBurnie (both as the Duchess and later on, as Tweedledum) and Ann Hegarty as Humpty Dumpty.

Even the comedy and choreographic potential of the Mad Hatter's Tea Party was thrown away through sluggish pacing. This, in spite of an excellent performance from Marshall De Couto as the Mad Hatter who, in his largest role to date, revealed excellent diction and a natural sense of comedic timing.

Some of the more enchanting moments were Alice's dialogue with the grinning Cheshire Cat (Debbie Mello) who dispensed her words of wisdom from the branches of a tree.

Choreographically, this show went nowhere. This was another big disappointment as the entire concept of `Alice' lends itself perfectly to dance (the wittiest version of this story was arguably the London Festival Ballet production when it was presented as a full-length ballet).

As an intrinsic part of the play, there is still massive potential for some dynamic dance scenes, but as it was, even the `Chess Board' sequence resembled nothing more than a bunch of bizarrely-clad sleepwalkers.

Marjorie Pettit and her small band soldiered heroically on in an effort to keep the increasingly flailing spirits on course. The chorus had been beautiful trained and made the most of their few songs. What seemed to be a real longing for pantomime was most palpable when she swept the audience up in her own version of Beautifooool Sooop.

If this production belonged to anyone, that someone has to be artist Elmer Midgett, whose wonderful stage designs provided the only element of wonder in the entire production. From the moment the play opened with Alice falling down the rabbit hole it was evident that he, at least, had done his homework. The visual problems presented by Alice's shrinking and then growing were solved through the ingenious use of a cavernous roof that moved up and down.

Then he had the White Rabbit turning giant pages to reveal a succession of spectacular scenes, each one of which faithfully captured the curious world in which Alice found herself. Forests, castles, rose gardens, `gingerbread' houses and a surrealistic sea-side where a blood-red sun sinks into an ink-blue sea, were all a delight to behold.

The overall technical production, in itself a massive undertaking and led by Ora Bainbridge, was seemingly faultless.

This performance was reviewed on opening night. In all fairness, it should be recorded that drastic pruning has, I am told, since led to a much improved production and a more enthusiastic response from the audience. It's a pity that someone never thought to do this before the show opened -- a cast and crew who worked as hard as this deserved better.

PATRICIA CALNAN A VERY IMPORTANT DATE -- Edmund Robinson takes on the role of the White Rabbit in the BMDS production of `Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass' at City Hall.