10:30pm Friday 13th August 2010
THE Wick country park in Wickford offers five lakes, 2km of walking trails, and 50 acres of meadow and woodland. As if this wasn’t enough, it now offers an extra attraction – open air theatre.
Basildon Council is staging Alice Through the Looking Glass, the sequel to author Lewis Carroll’s classic, Alice in Wonderland.
The production takes advantage of a natural ampitheatre in the park.
The 500-strong audience will be seated on a slope, looking down on the performance below.
Audiences should bring their own picnic blankets or camping chairs, as well as rain gear if necessary.
In Alice Through the Looking Glass, Alice drifts asleep and enters the world on the far side of her drawing room mirror. She finds herself taking part in a giant game of chess, in a world governed by the same lunatic logic as Wonderland.
The story features such classic setpieces as the fight with the Jabberwocky monster, the Walrus and the Carpenter, and the episode with the fat twins Tweedledum and Tweedledee. The new adaptation of the book is by Michael Whitmore, who emphasises the quirkiness and very British humour of Lewis Carroll’s creations.
Alice Through the Looking Glass is presented by London-based Quantum Theatre.
Quantum fields a number of self-contained touring groups. The actors travel the country throughout the summer, staging productions in a wide range of open air venues.
Alice will be arriving in Wickford not via a looking-glass, but in a Transit van, with the three other cast members and all the scenery, props, costumes and lighting required for a full-scale production. Alice Through the Looking Glass has already sold out, but some returned seats may be available closer to the night. Its success, even before the performance, means that Alice is unlikely to be the last play staged at this location.
It follows last years Quantum production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Other classic tales regularly staged by Quantum include Treasure Island and Great Expectations.
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.echo-news.co.uk/trade_directory/