When Lewis Carroll’s Alice fell down the rabbit hole and met a rabbit who was late, late, for a very important date, his story was a quirky, fast-moving fantasy featuring some bizarre characters.

So Carroll – real name, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson – a mathematician who loved literary nonsense, would be the first in the queue for an even quirkier production based on his famous work.

Alice’s Adventures Underground, which had a sell-out season in 2015, brings an Olivier-nominated immersive spin on his classic tale to the Vaults, hidden beneath Waterloo station, built in 11 tunnels.

The theatrical experience sweeps up audience members into the action, walking through, interacting with and exploring Wonderland while following the narrative, some of which uses the original text from Carroll’s books and builds on the world he created.

It’s an exhausting but exciting show for the 43 cast members living in Wonderland every day.

The audience enters every 15 minutes and the actors perform their roles several times a night, although do swap and share roles too.

For Jonathan Mathews, from Maidstone, his main role is more exhausting than most as he plays the frenetic White Rabbit.

With 72 shows a week and 12 shows a day, the 30-year-old runs around more than most.

The former Hazlitt Youth Theatre member and pupil at St Simon Stock School and Invicta Grammar School said: “The rabbit is a big role – he pops up throughout the audience’s show. He is quite anxious and darts around all over the place.

“You have to learn to move like a rabbit and you have to squat a lot. You’re constantly moving. You have to hop and move very quickly, so physically it is absolutely exhausting – and of course there’s a heavy costume with a massive fur head which is very hot. But it is such a fun show to do.

“Because there are more than 40 of us in the cast it is constantly changing. Different actors add different things to it. And with 12 shows a day, every one is a little bit different.

“It is also centred around audience involvement and participation so there’s much to see and do. You get to see Lewis Carroll’s study, but depending on what the audience choose – eat me, or drink me, and so on – it takes them on a different route. So it’s different for everyone. But it’s a story that everyone knows. I have read the book as well. The show takes the books and some of the films and stuff and spins it from that.”

After various stage shows, Jonathan admits as an actor, the show means living in Wonderland 24-7. The cast eat, sleep and socialise together, although this makes for an extra fun run.

THE SHOW

Alice’s Adventures Underground uses puppetry, storytelling, music, circus and spectacle. Audiences are faced with choices – eat or drink, grow or shrink? They are at the centre of the story, piecing together the puzzle in Wonderland as to what happened to Alice lost in the looking glass.

Each choice leads down a different path – you could become huge or shrink to be tiny – you might take tea at the biggest un-birthday party with the maddest of Hatters, meet the Cheshire Cat or come face to face with the fearsome Queen. The show is written by Oliver Lansley and Anthony Spargo and directed by Oliver Lansley and James Seager.

THE DETAILS

Les Enfants Terribles in association with Creature of London are staging Alice’s Adventures Underground in The Vaults under London’s Waterloo Station until Saturday, September 23. Tickets cost from £39.00 to £71.50.

Adventures in Wonderland is suitable for ages from five to 10 and is staged with award-winning children’s theatre company Les Petits, until Sunday, September 3. For details and to book visit alice-underground.com