Peter and Alice

Peter and Alice
Written by	John Logan
Characters	Peter Llewelyn Davies, Alice Liddell
Date premiered	25 March 2013
Place premiered	Noël Coward Theatre, London
Original language	English
Genre	Drama
Setting	Bookshop, London

Peter and Alice is a play by American writer John Logan based on the meeting of 80-year-old Alice Liddell and Peter Llewelyn Davies, then in his thirties, in a London bookshop in 1932, at the opening of a Lewis Carroll exhibition. The production was directed by Michael Grandage and was performed by Judi Dench as Alice and Ben Whishaw as Peter.

Summary

The play is based on a meeting between Alice Liddell Hargreaves and Peter Llewellyn Davies at the opening of a Lewis Carroll exhibition in 1932. The woman who inspired Alice meets the boy who inspired Peter Pan. The play sees enchantment and reality collide as this brief encounter lays bare the lives of these two characters.

Cast

• Ben Whishaw as Peter Llewelyn Davies
• Judi Dench as Alice Liddell
• Nicholas Farrell as Lewis Carroll
• Derek Riddell as J.M. Barrie
• Olly Alexander as Peter Pan
• Ruby Bentall as Alice in Wonderland
• Stefano Braschi as Arthur Llewelyn Davies / Reginald Hargreaves / Michael Llewelyn Davies

Understudies include:

• Stefano Braschi for Peter Llewelyn Davies;
• Georgina Beedle for Alice in Wonderland;
• Henry Everett for both Lewis Carroll and J.M. Barrie;
• Christoper Leveaux for Peter Pan, Arthur Llewelyn Davies, Reginald Hargreaves and Michael Llewelyn Davies;
• Pamela Merrick for Alice Liddell Hargreaves.

Reception

Reviews for the production were positive for the play. Michael Billington in The 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.".^[1] Charles Spencer in The Telegraph wrote: "It’s a beautiful and searching play that will live long in the memory".^[2] Libby Purves in The Times wrote "A meeting of two childhood muses, played by Judi Dench and Ben Whishaw, breaks your heart open.".^[3] However, there was some criticism of the play. Henry Hitchings in The Evening Standard wrote: " this is a piece that uses lush language to compensate for its lack of real dynamism".^[4] Despite this, the critics applauded the performance of Judi Dench and Ben Whishaw, with one critic saying "Dame Judi and Mr Whishaw are good, she almost Queen Motherly these days, he so sensitive, so irredeemably moist, that he could do with sponging"^[5]

Awards and nominations

London production

Year	Award	Category	Nominee	Result	Ref
2014	Laurence Olivier Award	Best New Play		Nominated	[6]
		Best Actress	Judi Dench	Nominated

References

1. Billington, Michael. Guardian.co.uk, March 25, 2013
2. Spencer, Charles. telegraph.co.uk, March 26, 2013
3. Purves, Libby, . thetimes.co.uk, March 26, 2013
4. Hitchings, Henry. standard.co.uk, March 26, 2013
5. dailymail.co.uk, March 26, 2013
6. "Olivier awards 2014 – full nominations". theguardian.com. The Guardian. 10 March 2014. Retrieved 10 March 2014.