Alice in Wonderland

Photo Illustration credit: Emily Cooper/Shaw Theatre

The Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake has been the summer home of many talented theatre folks and countless curtain rises since it launched over half a century ago. The beautiful setting and broad repository of plays draw dedicated fans and curious newcomers year after year. This year a new, musical adaptation of Alice in Wonderland will be treading the boards, and we can’t wait!

Little Alice fell
d
o
w
n
the hOle”

It started with a conversation between the artistic director and the director: What play should they mount that would delight the children and engage the adults? It didn’t take long to settle on an adaptation of Lewis Caroll’s beloved “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” What has been three years in the making is perfecting the play for Shaw Festival audiences, and ensuring the surreal elements of the fantastical story make it to the stage intact!

The Shaw is one of the largest repertory theatres in North America, with a company held in high regard internationally. Each year, from April to October, a number of plays are staged, each with a link to playwright George Bernard Shaw, for whom the festival was named. The festival launched in 1962 with a salute to Shaw staged in an old courthouse, and has grown steadily. In 2016, 10 plays in four theatres will be staged, with thousands of visitors traveling to the picturesque Ontario village to take it in!

In a Wonderland they lie
Dreaming as the days go by…”

For family audiences, Alice in Wonderland is going to be a treat. Many hours of thoughtful planning have gone into creating the costumes, lighting, set designs and a special touch of theatre magic to bring to life the wondrous elements of the story, like: a girl who grows bigger than a house and shrinks to teeny-tiny, an ocean of tears, an enormous game of croquet with flamingo mallets and hedgehog balls. The fantasy is enhanced with a new musical score, with some familiar favourites re-worked for this adaptation, plus original music to set off the poetry and nonsense written by Caroll himself. For more details, and to buy tickets, please visit the Shaw Festival site.

“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

Win a Family Pass to Alice in Wonderland at the Shaw Festival!

You don’t have to believe the impossible, it’s true! Family Fun Canada is delighted to be partnering with the Shaw Festival to give one lucky reader and family the chance to see the magic of Alice in Wonderland! Enter below, and good luck!

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