Alice in Wonderland is a whimsical story originally written by Lewis Carroll in 1865 as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Adapted by Peter Hinton, the Shaw Festival has taken a beautifully bizarre story and put it on the stage. The play boasts a sprawling professional cast and a large crew as well, using lighting, costumes, and other production elements such as music by Allen Cole to enhance the production and add to Alice’s captivating and charming story. The production was presented at the Festival Theatre in Niagara-On-the-Lake. The story follows Alice Liddell in 1865 England. Alice, her father, her two sisters, and Reverend Duckworth, as well as Mr. Charles Dodgson, are all rowing on a boat up a river on a cool summer day. Dodgson, played by Graeme Somerville, tells the story of a young girl named Alice, …show more content…
Somerville exemplifies the Hatter’s insanity with a giddy and slightly squeaky laugh- one he uses often. Somerville also speaks with a scratchy and hysterical tone of voice. His voice possesses a lilting quality that makes it clear to the audience that this character is not entirely sound. Somerville’s hatter also switches topics suddenly and with vigor; this unsteady and offbeat energy is used to emphasize the particular manner with which he speaks. Somerville is jittery and energetic, with a slight stutter. These serve to remind the audience that the Hatter is, in fact, mad. One minor character, the caterpillar, was portrayed by multiple actors to mimic the length and crawling quality of a caterpillar’s body. The caterpillar was voiced by Jay Turvey, Turvey used a slight drawl to give the caterpillar a feeling of pensiveness through his voice. The actors also moved in ripples and with slower, almost tired movements to show the audience that the character is thoughtful and wise and therefore takes time to enunciate and execute every