Jabberwock is delivered mostly in gibberish, and when it ventures into English it’s to recite the mysterious and evocative Lewis Carroll poem the show is named for. Like the poem, the play is open to many possible interpretations and the fun is in the playful, surreal ways of telling the story moreso than the story itself.
In other words, I went with a friend and we had completely different takes on what some of the scenes and characters represented, but we both thought it was visually delightful. My favorite scene has to be when our main character is being born, a process that is presented from a baby’s eye view, with enormous thighs appearing at either side of the stage. A moment later, we see an enormous breast from which “milk” emerges in the form of an actor dressed all in white who dances out of the nipple and into the baby’s waiting lips.
The gleeful silliness and embrace of tangents and non-sequiturs reminded me of early Monty Python at times, but the show also explores moments of fear and alienation. If you’ve always thought the Pythons could only be improved with less talking and more of the feeling you get from those creepy-eyed Victorian dolls, then this is absolutely the perfect show for you. Jabberwocky is on now at the York Theatre until February 17th. To purchase tickets, visit The Cultch.
By Contributing Writer Tiva Quinn
ILiveInEastVan.com 
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