ALICE IN WINTERLAND
Based on the books by Lewis Carroll
Adapted and directed by Ciaran McConville
Composer and Lyricist: Eamonn O'Dwyer
Designer: Tim Bird; Choreographer: Jamie Neale
Rose Theatre Kingston
7 Dec 2017 - 7 Jan 2018
Press night: 15 Dec 7pm
Following the huge success of last year's festive hit The Wind in the Willows, Rose Theatre Kingston's most successful Christmas production to date, the theatre today announces its 2017 Christmas show Alice in Winterland. The play, based on Lewis Carroll's much loved Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, is adapted and directed by Ciaran McConville, following his acclaimed productions of The Wind in the Willows, A Christmas Carol and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, with music and lyrics by Eamonn O'Dwyer, and featuring a professional cast alongside a group of Rose Youth Theatre actors. Alice has always been brought up to believe in wonder but her life takes an unexpected turn when she is sent to live with her stern auntie... until she is visited by a White Rabbit and propelled on a quest to save Winterland. Follow Alice to the magically curious world of Winterland, a world of ice and imagination, of mad hatters and cruel queens, strong-minded dodos and friendly knights. A world inhabited by the mysterious Bandersnatch and the terrible Jabberwock, a world that lies in the shuffle of a pack of cards or in the lines across a chess board, where the impossible becomes possible...
This dazzlingly festive new stage production is based on Lewis Carroll's timeless books, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Step through the Looking Glass with Alice this Christmas and join her for this glorious adventure.
Ciaran McConville said today, "Lewis Carroll's Wonderland books are genius. They're funny, clever, exciting and completely bonkers. I'm looking forward to the challenge of writing a festive adventure from such a mad melée of brilliant characters. Carroll's work will always resonate because he writes about a child trying to make sense of the world and herself. She doesn't always get it right, and there's often a battle between head and heart, but she always stands up against injustice and she has faith in her own imagination - something we all need to remember at Christmas, I think."
ALICE IN WINTERLAND AUDITIONS
As with 2015 and 2016, the Rose Theatre Kingston invites young actors aged 10-19 to audition to perform in Alice in Winterland as part of Rose Youth Theatre. Working alongside an award-winning creative team and supported by experienced teaching staff, up to fifty young people will learn high level acting skills before performing in alternate shows across the run. The young cast will receive training from a voice coach, movement director, musical director and stage director.
The production will once again be supported by Wahid Samady and CNM Estates, who have sponsored the Rose Theatre Kingston Christmas show since 2014.
