ALICE IN WONDERLAND

CHARACTERS

LEWIS CARROL

ALICE (7)

STORYTELLERS (5)

WHITE RABBIT

CATERPILLAR

CHESHIRE CAT

MAD HATTER

MARCH HARE

DORMOUSE

TWEEDLE DEE

TWEEDLE DUM

GARDENERS (5)

QUEEN OF HEARTS

KING OF HEARTS

PACK OF CARDS (10)

JURY MEMBERS (12)

Total Actors = 50

Dancers and Singers = 4*15 = 60

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SCENE 1:
(7 Alices, Storytellers, Lewis)

AT RISE: Before the play is about to begin, 7 ALICES take various places around the stage. Look for
fun innovative places for them to hide.

SOUND CUE #1: Sprightly happy music. Very short, to play for a moment before LEWIS’ entrance.
LEWIS enters from behind the audience and comes down aisle toward playing area or stage looking
for ALICE.

LEWIS: (Calling from off.) Alice, oh, Alice! (ALICE #1 pops her head out to the side of the screen, sees
LEWIS and gasps! She hides again.) Alice? Hello! (ALICE #2’s head pops out of the other side of the
screen, sees LEWIS, gasps and hides.) Now where the devil has she gone? (ALICE #3 pops up from
where she has been hiding and sneaks from LEWIS’ view. STORYTELLERS enter on their lines.)

BLUE: Once upon a time.

GREEN: In merry old England..

RED: There was a man called...

ORANGE: Lewis Carroll! (STORYTELLERS give LEWIS a fanfare with their kazoos.)

LEWIS: (Suddenly taking notice of STORYTELLERS, ever polite, coming on stage. He shakes
STORYTELLERS hands.) How do you do? How do you do? How do you do? (Shakes audience
member’s hand.) How do you do?

PURPLE: And a little girl named Alice. (ALICES #4 & #5 & #6 #7 pop up from their hiding places and all
scurry to find another hiding place.)

LEWIS: Alice! Alice! (Checks watch.) Oh, dear, we’re really quite late, you know. (To audience,
exasperated.) Have you seen a little girl? About this tall in a blue dress? (story tellers point)

Where? Over here? (Looks where they point, ALICES are everywhere. One by one, their heads bob
up just as LEWIS turns away. ) Here? There? Where? (He’s finally had it, stamps his foot!) Alice you
must come out this instant! (ALL ALICES reluctantly stand.) Well good heavens! How many Alices do
we have here? Why there’s... (They each curtsey on their line.) ALICE #1: One. ALICE #2: Two. ALICE
#3: Three. ALICE #4: Four. ALICE #5: Five. ALICE #6: Six. ALICE #7 and Seven!!

LEWIS: My goodness! I’m afraid that’s too many Alices for the moment. We’ll start with just one.
(LEWIS points to ALICE #1.) You’re my Alice.

BLUE: And so all the Alices sat down to wait their turn. (ALICES exit or sit in place.)

(Music)

SCENE 2:
(White Rabbit, Alice #1, Storytellers) Alice sits under a tree and falls asleep.

STORYTELLERS: (STORYTELLERS chant) Mustn’t be late, mustn’t be late, mustn’t be late. ALICE
wakes, seeing RABBIT as he enters)

ALICE #1: Why look! It’s a white bunny! I think I’ll follow him.

STORYTELLERS: No! Don’t do it, Alice! Bad idea!

ORANGE: But nothing would stop her.

RABBIT: Mustn't, mustn't, mustn't be late! Oh, my ears and whiskers! (RABBIT exits behind screen,
ALICE #1 follows...)

ALICE #1: Why look! He’s gone into his rabbit hole! (ALICE #1 takes a big step as she disappears
behind screen.)

PURPLE: Suddenly Alice felt herself falling...(ALICE #1 comes twirling out from the other side.)

ALICE #1: Whoaaaaaooooaaaaah!!! (STORYTELLERS and ALL seated performers call out with her,
they may raise their arms as they might on a roller coaster. Other Alices join her in rotation)
ALL: Whoaaaaooooaaah!!

ALICE #1: Whooooooaaaaahhhhh!!!

ORANGE: Alice fell so long... PURPLE: It seemed like years! ‘

BLUE: At last Alice hit the bottom! (GREEN uses a juice harp or other instrument to make a “boink!”
sound as ALICE falls down. RABBIT enters.)

RABBIT: Who are you?

ALICE #1: That's not very polite.

RABBIT: Whatever are you doing in my rabbit hole? Did you fall from the sky?

ALICE #1: Well, kind of?

RABBIT: Well, Good-bye,

ALICE #1: Don’t you mean Hello?

RABBIT: No time. No time for that. I’m going to be late!

ALICE #1: Late for what?

RABBIT: Musn’t be late, mustn’t be late.

ALICE #1: But wait! (ALICE #1 follows RABBIT behind screen. ALICE #2 enters from other side of
screen.)
Song

I'm late!
I'm late!
For a very important date!
No time to say "Hello", goodbye!
I'm late!
I'm late! I'm late! I'm late!

SCENE 3:
(Alice #1 & Storytellers)

ALICE #1: He's gone. How very strange.

BLUE: Alice found herself in a long low hall...

GREEN: Which was lit up by a row of lamps...

RED: And along one wall she found... (2 students become a small door. They stand with arms making
an arch above their heads.)

ALICE #1: A door? I wonder what’s behind it. Oh look! A tiny key! And a cookie.

(she opens the door)

ALICE #1: That is the loveliest garden I've ever seen. Oh, how I wish I could go in there! Now let me
see, maybe my head would fit. (She tries to get her head in. GREEN gets down behind her and tries
to push her in.) It’s no use. But even if my head would go through it would be no use without my
shoulders. (eats the cookie. Transition Music. Alice1 starts shrinking. Enters the door. Enter Alice 2).

Scene 4
(Caterpillar, Alice 2)

CATERPILLAR: Who are you?

ALICE #2: I don’t know, Mr. Caterpillar.

CATERPILLAR: What do you mean by that? Explain yourself!

ALICE #2: I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, sir. Because I'm not myself, you see.

CATERPILLAR: I don't see.

ALICE #2: I can't seem to stay the same size for more than ten minutes at a time! CATERPILLAR:
What size do you want to be?

ALICE #2: Well, I would like to be a little larger. Three inches is a terrible height to be.

CATERPILLAR: It is a very good height, indeed! I am exactly three inches high! ALICE #2: But I'm not
used to it. CATERPILLAR: You'll get used to it in time. (CATERPILLAR begins to leave, crawling, but
remembers to tell her...) One side will make you grow taller and the other side will make you grow
shorter. ALICE #2: One side of what? The other side of what? CATERPILLAR: Of the cookie, of course.
(CATERPILLAR Exits.)

ALICE #2: The cookie? (She examines the cookie.) One side will make me grow taller and the other
side will make me grow shorter. But which side is which? (She walks around it trying to decide.
Finally breaks off “pieces”.

ALICE #2: Oh dear, I've never had so much trouble getting along with people before. I must get back
to my right size. (She nibbles cautiously from each piece until she is satisfied with her height.

SOUND CUE #5: Crazy up and down growing music. Fades into short introduction for CHESHIRE CAT.

SCENE 5:
(Cheshire Cat & Alice #3)

STORYTELLERS make slide whistle sounds of up and down as she adjusts her height.)

Alice 3: There now! That's about right! How nice to be the exact size a little girl should be. (ALICE
sets off on a journey. CHESHIRE CAT appears. To appear and disappear CHESHIRE CAT uses a cut-out
of his face that is mounted at the end of a stick. When he appears he snaps his fingers and holds the
face up. When he disappears he snaps and hides the face behind his back. Music for a magic effect.)

CHESHIRE CAT: Meow.

ALICE #3: Oh! A kitty! (ALICE goes to pet him. CHESHIRE CAT snaps his fingers, disappears behind
ALICE #3. She’s not quite sure where he is.)

CHESHIRE CAT: Meow. (CHESHIRE CAT appears over her shoulder, surprising her.)

ALICE #3: Oh!

ALICE #3: Excuse me. You startled me just now. Why are you grinning like that?

CHESHIRE CAT: Because I am a Cheshire Cat.

ALICE #3: I didn't know that cats could grin at all.

CHESHIRE CAT: You don't know much and that's a fact.

ALICE #3: If you please, Cheshire Cat, could you tell me which way I ought to go from here?
CHESHIRE CAT: That depends on where you want to get to.

ALICE #3: Oh well, I thought I wanted to go to that pretty garden, but I'm becoming so tired. I don't
care much where I go...

CHESHIRE CAT: Then it doesn't matter which way you go! (CHESHIRE CAT snaps and disappears.)

ALICE #3: Oh! Oh, no! Please come back. What sort of people live around here?

CHESHIRE CAT: (Snaps fingers of one hand.) In that direction lives a Hatter... (Snaps fingers on other
hand.) And in that direction lives a March Hare. Visit either you like. They're both mad.

ALICE #3: But I don't want to visit mad people.

CHESHIRE CAT: Oh, you can't help that. We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.

ALICE #3: What makes you think I'm mad?

CHESHIRE CAT: You must be or you wouldn't have come here.

ALICE #3: Well, I don't think that proves it at all.

CHESHIRE CAT: Believe whatever you like. Will you play croquet with the Queen today?

ALICE #3: I'd like to very much. But I haven't been invited yet.

CHESHIRE CAT: You will be. (CHESHIRE CAT disappears, exits.)

ALICE #3: That's the most curious cat I've ever seen in my life! Oh, I would so like to play croquet
with the Queen, I do wish he'd told me which way to go. I'm so lost. So lost. It seems that I'll just
wander around forever! I just have to walk, walk and walk.

Song: Will you walk a little faster,,,,

SCENE 6:
(Mad Hatter, March Hare, Dormouse, Alice #4 & Storytellers )

(ALICE #3 exits behind screen. Tea party.)

ALICE #4: A tea party! Oh, I would like to have some tea!

MAD HATTER & MARCH HARE & DORMOUSE: No room! No room! ALICE #3: But there's plenty of
room! (She sits.)

MARCH HARE: Have some juice.

ALICE #4: I don't see any juice. MARCH HARE: There isn't any.
ALICE #4: Then it wasn't very civil of you to offer it.

MARCH HARE: It wasn't very civil of you to sit down without being invited.

ALICE #4: I didn't know it was your table. You have all of these places set and there are only three of
you.

DORMOUSE: Why is a raven like a writing desk?

ALICE #4: Riddle! I love riddles, I believe I can guess that.

MAD HATTER: Do you mean you can find out the answer to it?

ALICE #4: Well, yes.

March Hare: Then you should say what you mean.

Alice 4: At least I mean what I say. It’s the same thing.!

MAD HATTER: What day of the month is it?

ALICE #4: (Thinks, counts on her fingers.) The fourth.

MAD HATTER: (Looking at watch.) Two days wrong!

ALICE #4: What a funny watch! It tells the day of the month and doesn't tell what time it is!

MARCH HARE: Why should it? Does your watch tell you what year it is?

ALICE #4: Of course not. But that's because it stays the same year for such a long time.

(DORMOUSE begins to sing “Twinkle”.)

Song

Twinkle Twinkle little bat

MAD HATTER: Stop that! Stop that!

ALICE #4: It's just a song.

MAD HATTER: Just a song! Just a song? He sang it before the Queen, you know.

ALICE #4: (Impressed.) Really? Did she like it?

MAD HATTER: Like it? He'd hardly finished the first verse when the Queen bawled out "Off with his
head!"

ALICE #4: How dreadfully savage!

MARCH HARE: Take some more tea.

ALICE #4: But I haven't had any yet. So I can't take more.

MARCH HARE: You mean you can't take less. It's very easy to take more than nothing.

ALICE #4: Oh, this is all so impossible.

MAD HATTER: I want a clean cup, let's all move down one.

ALICE #4: You just keep moving around the table?

ALICE #4: But what happens when you come to the beginning again?

MARCH HARE: Suppose we change the subject.

ALICE #4: This is the weirdest tea party I was ever at in all my life.

DORMOUSE: How rude.

(MAD HATTER tidies, picks up tea things.)

MAD HATTER: The very idea. Come along March Hare, Dormouse. We can do without her very
nicely, I am sure. (MAD HATTER, DORMOUSE & MARCH HARE march off in a snit, exit.)

BLUE: Just as the Mad Hatter disappeared...

GREEN: Alice noticed two trees, each had a door leading right into it.

ALICE #4: That's very curious! But everything's curious today. Which one shall I choose?? This one
(she looks to the audience) or this one? Yes, I agree! This one! (She opens “door” and STORYTELLERS
make “creak” sound. She steps behind screen. ALICE #4 exits behind screen as ALICE #5 enters from
the opposite side.)

SCENE 7
TWEEDLES (Alice, Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee)

ALICE #5: Oh, I’m sorry!

TWEEDLE DUM: Oh, how do you do, Sorry! I'm Tweedle Dum.

TWEEDLE DEE: And I'm Tweedle Dee. I've never met anyone named Sorry before. (ALICE and the
TWEEDLES shake hands at the same time in a confusing, elaborate handshake.)

ALICE #5: Oh, I'm sorry, but I'm not Sorry. I'm sorry.

TWEEDLE DEE: Oh, how do you do! I'm Tweedle Dee.

TWEEDLE DUM: No, I'm Tweedle Dee. (ALICE and the TWEEDLES shake hands.)

TWEEDLE DEE: No, I'm Tweedle Dee. You're Tweedle Dum.

TWEEDLE DUM: Oh, am I? I'm sorry.

TWEEDLE DEE: What a coincidence! So is she!

TWEEDLE DUM:(to ALICE) Are we related?!

ALICE #5: I'm sorry?

TWEEDLE DUM: Oh, how do you do! I'm Tweedle Dum.

TWEEDLE DEE: Then I must be Tweedle Dee. (ALICE and the TWEEDLES shake hands.)

ALICE #5: Don't you know who you are?

TWEEDLE DUM: Well, there's no need to attack us!

TWEEDLE DEE: Yes, we've only just met!

TWEEDLE DUM: Oh, how do you do? I'm Tweedle Dum.

TWEEDLE DEE: And I'm Tweedle Dee. (ALICE and the TWEEDLES shake hands.)

ALICE #5: And I'm out of here! It's been fun, but I have to find the White Rabbit. (ALICE tries to
leave.)

TWEEDLE DUM: Meeting and running ain't very polite.

TWEEDLE DEE: There's a right way—

TWEEDLE DUM: And a wrong way—

TWEEDLES: To do things! (They exit)

ALICE #5: This is a very strange place. Very strange indeed. I think I will try the other door!!! (She
steps behind screen. ALICE #5 exits behind screen as ALICE #6 enters from the opposite side.)

SCENE 8:
(Gardners: Flora, Digger, Petal, Herb and Roses, Alice #6 and Storytellers)

RED: At last, Alice found herself in the beautiful garden.

(SOUND CUE #7: Magical sound: harp, chimes, flute, etc. STORYTELLERS make magical sound such as
chimes.)

BLUE: A large rose tree stood near the entrance of the garden.

ALICE #6: What pretty flowers! (She goes to smell the). GARDENERS enter with paint cans and
brushes.)

GREEN: The roses growing on it were white but ...

RED: There were several gardeners busily painting them red. (ALICE goes to FLORA.)

ALICE #6: Would you tell me please, why are you painting those roses?

FLORA: We paint them every day, don’t you know?

ALICE #6: But why? Roses are so pretty anyway.

HERB: Pretty to you perhaps but what about those who like them blue?

FLORA: Or purple?

PETAL: Or lime green?

DIGGER: Or shar-truce?

ALICE #6: But roses don’t come in those colors.

HERB: It don’t matter a whit. The Queen wants them red today...

PETAL: And there’s nothing for it but to paint them red, don’t you see?

DIGGER: That is if you’d like to keep your head about you.

ALICE #6: Well, I think it’s a waste of time. Not to mention paint. They are appreciated for who they
are!! (She touches all the flowers)

FLORA: Don’t you touch it, young lady!

DIGGER: If her Majesty should come along and see these roses were white…

PETAL: …why she’d have our heads cut off she would.

ALICE #6: Oh! How beastly!

RED: At that moment the Gardeners saw a terrible sight.

GARDENERS: The Queen! The Queen! Run for your life!!!!!!!!! (GARDENERS run off, exiting.

SOUND CUE #8:

Queen fanfare, short. STORYTELLERS stand and give a grand kazoo fanfare! QUEEN OF HEARTS
enters...)

SCENE 9:
(Queen of Hearts, Alice #6, Roses, Cards and Storytellers) (Card march in followed by the Royal
Court)

QUEEN OF HEARTS: (To audience.) Thank you my royal subjects. You’re all so small and worthless. It
warms my heart. COURT MEMBERS will create lines here

QUEEN OF HEARTS: (Sees ALICE.) WHO is this?

ALICE #6: My name is Alice, so pleased your Majesty. (Curtseys.)

QUEEN: (Sees roses.) And what is this I see? White roses? (CARDS create lines here. The roses
tremble and we hear several lines from the roses: with the last one being “She did it!”) Off with this
girl’s head. (The Cards start to approach her)

ALICE #6: Nonsense!

QUEEN: (Befuddled fury.) OFF...OFF...OFF...OFF...OFF! (Changing tactics, suddenly kind.) Can you play
croquet?

ALICE #6: Yes, I can.

QUEEN: Come then. (QUEEN grabs ALICE by the sleeve, circles around in great hurry, stops abruptly
and pats her hands.) Croquet everyone! Get to your places! May I remind you all that a moment's
delay will cost you your lives.

ALICE #6: (Looking around.) But this isn't like a place for croquet at all. It's all ridges and furrows and
the balls are... (She points to “hedgehogs”.) ...live hedgehogs! And the mallets are... (QUEEN snaps
her fingers and ORANGE takes flamingos [cardboard or wood cut-outs] to QUEEN.)

QUEEN: (Handing her one.) One for you and one for me.

ALICE #6: Flamingos?

QUEEN: Excellent. (QUEEN gets into position.) Observe my technique, Alice. You grip your flamingo.
(Two students start pulling the thread attached to the flamingo So its head starts shaking wildly.)
Stop that! Off with this flamingo's head.

ALICE #6: But your majesty. You couldn't play if the flamingo lost his head.

QUEEN: Oh? Yes. Quite right. PARDON!! (QUEEN gets back to position.) You hold your flamingo like

QUEEN: Oh really? And now, Alice, let's see you try it. (QUEEN points to ALICE'S ARCH.)

ALICE 6#: All right. (ALICE tries to grip flamingo as the QUEEN did but it starts squawking wildly. )

ALICE #6: I think... this game is stupid.

QUEEN: (Beyond fury.) OOOOoooooooffffffFFFFFF with her HEAD!!!!!!!! CARDS: (starting to

ALICE #6: Nonsense. You must have a trial before you cut off anybody's head, you know.

QUEEN: I must?

ALICE #6: You must.

QUEEN: LET THE TRIAL BEGIN!! (Cards create a path)

(SOUND CUE #9: Court fanfare, short. STORYTELLERS give a regal fanfare with their kazoos. ALICE #6
exits behind screen ALICE #7 enters from other side. QUEEN puts on the wig and sits.)

SCENE 10:
(Queen of Hearts, King of Hearts, Alice #7, White Rabbit, Roses, Cards, Storytellers, other characters
& all Alices)

BLUE: Alice had never been in a court of justice before...

GREEN: But she had read about them in books...

RED: She was quite pleased to find that she knew the names for nearly everything there.

ALICE #7: That's the judge...(ALICE points to where the QUEEN sits. ORANGE sets a stool for the
witness stand. ) That’s the witness stand. (ALICE points where the STORYTELLERS sit.) And that’s the
jury. But what are they writing? The trial hasn’t even begun!

White Rabbit: They are writing their names, just so that they don’t forget them.

Alice 7: Silly things!

QUEEN: Silence in the court! Members of the jury, consider your verdict.

Alice #7: Oh, your majesty! But what am I accused of?.

King: Herald, Read the accusation

White Rabbit:

`The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts,

The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts,

And took them quite away!'

Song… The Queen of Hearts she made some tarts…

King: `Consider your verdict,'.

White Rabbit: Not yet, not yet!' `There's a great deal to come before that!'

King: Uh, okay. Call the first witness,'

White Rabbit: `First witness! – ALICE!’

(ALICE sits on witness stool.)

White Rabbit (Reading from a paper) : ‘Apologies, your majesty. I have stolen the tarts.’ What have
you to say about this letter?

ALICE #7: This is not my handwriting!

QUEEN: You must have imitated somebody else’s writing.

ALICE #7: Nonsense. Look at the bottom. I never signed that letter.

QUEEN: If you didn't sign it, that proves you're guilty. If you weren't guilty you'd have signed it like
an honest person!

ALICE #7: It doesn't prove anything of a sort!

QUEEN: Off with her head! Off with her head! (CARDS wake up from their rest and try to get into
formation to get Alice.)

ALICE #7: Oh please! Off with your head! You’re just a card, I can rip off your head with a single
stroke of my hand!

QUEEN: Treason! This is treason I say! (ALICE #7 marches toward her. QUEEN protests. All other
ALICES enter and join ALICE #7 marching toward the QUEEN.) What is this? How many of you are
there?! I won’t have this! (They keep marching toward her. The Cards join in) But, but , but... I’m the
Queen!

ALL: Off with her head! Off with her head! (QUEEN tries to get away trying to duck behind the other
cards.)

QUEEN: TREASON!!!!

(SOUND CUE #10: Bong sound that turns to chaotic swirling sounds that fades as ALL but ALICE exit.)

ALICE #7: (Stamping her foot.) You don't scare me! You don’t scare me at all! Do you hear me?
Hello? Oh, your majesty... Hello? (ALICE realizes she is quite alone.) Where did everybody go? Well!
It's just as well. (Sits.) Such a strange place this is. Why one would almost think it wasn't real at all...
(Yawns.) Just a long strange dream... (ALICE 7 exits as ALICE 1 comes from the other side and lays
down to sleep, ending in same position she posed at beginning of story. LEWIS enters with the
“quiet” finger to his lips.)
 SCENE 12:
(Lewis & Alice #1)

LEWIS: (Pats her head gently) Perfect!

(ALICE wakes with a start. LEWIS pats his hands in applause.) Excellent story, Alice. Excellent!

ALICE #1: (Wakes and looks around.) Story? But, you...oh...I...the Queen! (Rubbing eyes.) She was
here! Oh, Mr. Carroll, she was here, the Queen! And there was the Mad Hatter and the strangest tea
party! Oh, and Mr. Carroll, I kept growing down and growing up, up, up... (LEWIS stops.)

LEWIS: (Looking kindly at ALICE.) Yes, you are.

ALICE #1: I am what?

LEWIS: Growing up. It won't be long now and you'll be almost as grown up as me. With children of
your own.

ALICE #1: Oh, that will be a long time.

LEWIS: Not as long as you think, really. Why do you think I wrote this story?

ALICE #1: Will you tell other children about my Wonderland?

LEWIS: You may have to do that for me. Do you think you can?

ALICE #1: Oh yes! There was a Cheshire Cat who grinned all the time and a White Rabbit who lost his
gloves and he was always in a hurry...

(SOUND CUE #11: Gentle Music)

BLUE: And that is how, the loveliest, most magical story that ever existed…

GREEN: Was dreamt, and told, for many, many more years to come…

RED: To children, who had dreams just like Alice….

ORANGE: of magical doors, and opened by magical keys, and magical gardens, filled with fantastical
creatures….

PURPLE: And the dream lives on today and will continue to live in the hearts of millions of starry
eyed children.

Everyone: THANK YOU, LEWIS CARROL!