Westview Secondary will be taking a trip through the looking glass with their unique take on Alice in Wonderland.
The story is bringing together both the original story, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and the sequel Through the Looking-Glass, both written by British author Lewis Carroll.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was published in 1865 and follows the story of a young Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantastical new world. Through the Looking-Glass was published in 1871. In this book, Alice steps through a mirror into another fantastical world, where everything is reversed – just like her reflection.
Samantha Pool, a Grade 11 student at Westview, plays the role of Alice.
Essentially, there are two Alices in the Westview production, she noted.
“I play one and there is another that runs around on stage. So I can see the second Alice and the second Alice can also see me but nobody else can understand that there are no true Alices,” she described.
Grade 11 student Max Renaud plays the role of Tweedle Dee and the fish footman. He is also a wing manager for the production.
He noted how they changed the whole look of the show by adding their own colour scheme and changing the costumes of quite a few of the characters.
“The worm’s kind of dressed like a hippy and Humpty Dumpty is kind of dressed like a gangster,” explained Renaud.
Then there is Tia Sheaves, 14, a Grade 9 student at the school, who plays a grandmother squirrel in a log house who is disturbed by Alice and tries to answer her questions – but doesn’t seem to have the answers.
Sheaves noted that they tried to stray away from expectations by putting their unique spin on the stories.
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This is the first major performance for a three of the actors and they found different aspects of the production challenging.
Poole said it was having the confidence to go on stage. For Renaud, who is part of the managing team, it was learning how to get a group of people to listen to direction. Sheaves noted it was learning how to act.
“You can memorize and read lines but it’s not that easy to become the character,” she explained.
Sheaves added that the production is very creative and everyone put a lot of effort into it, including working on all the sets and putting their individual input into the costumes.
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“Everybody is really proud of what they have done,” she said.
Westview Secondary School Drama Club’s presentation of Alice In Wonderland takes place Thursday, Feb. 23 and Friday, Feb. 24, at the Westview Theater, 20905 Wicklund Ave., Maple Ridge.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the performance begins at 7 p.m.
Tickets are $10 each and are being sold at the Westview Secondary office.
For more information contact drama club teacher April Allan at april_allan@sd42.ca.
Have a story tip? Email: cflanagan@mapleridgenews.com
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