by Lewis Carroll

Adapted for the stage by Richard Kelly

I'm adapting it from the original story and blending original music with traditional so all that won't cost a penny!

 This magical story with weird and eccentric characters will come to life on the stage without filmed sequences and projection - we'll create the magic on stage. The set is 'portable' in that actors will be carrying parts of it on their backs! Big cutouts painted like doors, like trees with holes in them to pop your faces through - they can be placed around the stage and when you turn around with the cut-out behind your back, above your heads will be the playing cards, Queen of Hearts, Jack of Spades, etc, so the cut-outs serve a dual purpose and it means we don't have to make expensive playing card costumes out of diamonds and hearts!

 Alice is a play about identity - who am I? So the entire play, including Through the Looking Glass, is an exploration of a girl just on the threshold of womanhood, terrified of what it all means, so she's shrunken and stretched out on the stage using concave and convex mirrors. It's a journey into her world of dreams that is witty, literary and very wise! I'm keeping the original dialogue and finding fun ways to stage the dreams.

 I've already written Wonderland as the first act and here is a sample:

ACT 1                                   

ALICE IN WONDERLAND

SC 1:  BY THE RABBIT HOLE

 ALICE IS MEANDERING ALONG A RAISED BANK, READING A BOOK. IT IS HOT AND SUNNY.

 ALICE:        (YAWNING) What a hot day this is and what a boring book! What's the use of a book if it has no pictures or conversations? Days like these make me feel very sleepy and stupid. I'm not stupid, everybody says so. In fact, they say that I am rather intelligent.                       

 THE WHITE RABBIT ENTERS THE BANK FROM THE OPPOSITE WINGS, MOVING TOWARDS ALICE. RABBIT IS ALL FIDGETY AND IN A RUSH. HE STOPS AND TAKES OUT A POCKET WATCH FROM HIS WAISTCOAT, LOOKING AT IT WITH ALARM.

 RABBIT:       Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late! (HE LOOKS AT ALICE BUT DOESN'T SEE HER) I'm to escort the Duchess to the croquet tournament and there's a penalty for being late.

 RABBIT MIMES CUTTING OFF HIS HEAD AND JUMPS DOWN OFF THE BANK INTO A HOLE.

ALICE RUSHES TO THE SPOT, PEERING DOWN.

 ALICE:           Wait! Wait for me!                                                                              

  ALICE SURVEYS THE HOLE, SHRUGS HER SHOULDERS AND JUMPS, FOLLOWING THE RABBIT.

THE HOLE IS A CANVAS WHEEL, ITS CIRCLE FACING THE AUDIENCE, SUPPORTED BY TWO COLUMNS (CARRIED BY ACTORS ON THEIR BACKS). THE COLUMNS MOVE AWAY AS ALICE ROLLS THE WHEEL DOWNSTAGE LEFT. WE SEE HER THROUGH THE CANVAS, THE RIM OF THE WHEEL (OR HOOP) LIT WITH LED LIGHTS, HER FACE LIT (BY A TORCH?).

THE COLUMNS LOOK LIKE MONOLITHS MOVING ABOUT THE STAGE AS THE CIRCLE ROLLS, FREEZING AS THE CIRCLE STOPS FOR DIALOGUE.                              

 ALICE:          I can't see anything in this well. Oh, look, a jar of marmalade.

 ALICE HOLDS UP A JAR LABELLED 'ORANGE MARMALADE'.

 ALICE:           It's empty! Not much use to me now!                               

 ALICE CASTS ASIDE THE JAR AND BEGINS TO ROLL THE CIRCLE TO THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE STAGE. THE MONOLITH COLUMNS MOVE TO CREATE DIFFERENT SHAPES AND PATTERNS AND FREEZE WITH THE CIRCLE STOPPING CENTRE STAGE.

 ALICE:          Well! After a fall such as this I'll think nothing of falling down the stairs at home. But I wonder how many miles I have fallen? I must be getting somewhere near the centre of the earth. Let me see. That would be four thousand miles down, I think. I might even reach the Antipathies and have to ask them the name of the country. "Please, Ma'am, is this New Zealand or Australia?" Oh, no! It will never do to ask. They'll think me ignorant. Perhaps there'll be a sign somewhere. Whoops! Here we go again!

 AS ALICE ROLLS THE CIRCLE SR THE MONOLITH COLUMNS FORM A CORRIDOR, STRETCHING OUT LIKE A MAZE OF DOORS ACROSS THE STAGE FROM THE CIRCLE.

 ALICE:           Dinah'll miss me very much tonight, I should think. Dinah is my cat and I wish she were here with me now. There are no mice in the air, I'm afraid, but you might catch a bat. But do cats eat bats, I wonder? (GETTING SLEEPY, SHE MUSES) Do cats eat bats? Do bats eat cats?

 SUDDENLY ALICE FALLS ON HER BUM WITH A THUMP, WAKING HER UP. AS SHE STEPS OUT OF THE HOOP SHE SETS IT DOWN AS A TABLE AS THE MOVING MONOLITHS FORM A ROW OF THREE DOORS. SMALL, OUTSIZE LARGE AND NORMAL SIZES. ALICE SEES THE WHITE RABBIT OPENING A NORMAL SIZED DOOR.

 RABBIT:         Oh, my ears and whiskers, how late it's getting! (THE DOOR CLOSES AFTER HIM)

 ALICE:            Wait!

 DURING THE RABBIT'S DISAPPEARANCE A GLOVED HAND PLACES A LARGE BOTTLE ON THE TABLE WITH A LABEL READING "Drink Me". ALICE RUSHES TO THE SMALL DOOR AND CAN'T GET THROUGH. SHE GOES BACK TO THE TABLE AND SEES THE BOTTLE.

 ALICE (READING THE LABEL): Drink me...Hmn...I'd better look first and see if it's marked 'poison' or not as poison is almost certain to disagree with me. No, nothing marked poison so here we go...

ALICE DRINKS FROM THE BOTTLE                                                                            

 ALICE:              A rather nice mixture of cherry tart, custard, pineapple, roast turkey, toffee and hot buttered toast. But what a curious feeling. I must be shutting up like a telescope when I want to catch up with that rabbit.

 ALICE CROSSES THE STAGE TO OPEN A VERY LARGE AND HIGH DOOR, STEPPING BEHIND IT.

BEHIND THE DOOR IS A LARGE CONCAVE MIRROR. THE AUDIENCE SEES ALICE'S REFLECTION SHRUNKEN IN THE MIRROR.