Alice in Wonderland

This version begins with Alice lying on a riverbank with her sister reading her a story with no pictures or conversation. Suddenly, she sees a white rabbit run past. When he pulls out a pocket watch, Alice decides that she wants to find out what he’s late for.

Following him into a rabbit hole, Alice finds herself falling quite a long way. On her way down she has plenty of time to think and to look around at the cupboards and shelves on the walls. Finally, she lands on a pile of leaves. As she lands, Alice sees the rabbit turn a corner but once she gets there, she realises that she is now in a hallway lined with doors, and the rabbit has totally disappeared. Noticing that all the doors are locked, Alice finds a golden key that fits a tiny door, leading to a beautiful garden. However, she is too big to fit through!

Next Alice sees a little bottle with a label saying DRINK ME. She does, and her whole body shrinks! She quickly learns that the door is still locked and because she is so tiny, she can’t reach the key sitting on a table. She begins to cry.

Suddenly, Alice sees a small box under the table which contains a tiny cake. She decides to eat it, hoping it will make her bigger again. But it makes her grow tall. So tall infact that she actually hits her head on the roof! Whilst she is so tall, she is able to get the key and unlocks the door, but again she cannot fit through, so, just like before, Alice begins to cry.

At that moment, the white rabbit returns, holding a fan and a pair of gloves. Alice calls out to him, but the rabbit is easily frightened and drops his fan and gloves in fear and quickly runs away. She picks up the items and begins fanning herself while she tries to re-cap her adventure so far. Whilst fanning, Alice begins to shrink. She quickly realises that the fan is the reason and drops it before she becomes smaller than two feet tall! Hastily, Alice tries to open the door, but learns that it has been relocked.

Slipping over, Alice almost drowns in her own tears, which have formed a sea from her crying when she was giant size. She soon notices that she is not alone; swimming quite close to a mouse that she begins talking to. As they talk, the water around them becomes a lot busier, filling with more creatures that have fallen in.

Once on dry land, Alice and the creatures decide to compete in a Caucus Race to get dry. The Dodo declares that they are all winners and Alice gives them all a piece of candy as a prize. She is handed her own thimble as a prize!

All of the creatures sit in a large circle and Alice asks the mouse to finish the tale he began whilst in the water. But her constant interference and silly comments get the better of him and he leaves. Gradually, the others leave as well and Alice is all alone until the rabbit comes by again, looking for his gloves and fan.

The rabbit mistakes Alice for his maid, Mary Ann, and orders her to run home and fetch him another pair of gloves and a new fan. She does so, and as she is in the rabbit’s home, she finds a bottle of liquid. Knowing it will make her either shrink or grow, Alice tries it and finds she becomes so tall, she has to put one foot up the chimney and one arm out of the window. The rabbit comes back impatiently and finds he can’t enter the house.

The rabbit calls for a creature named Pat, and tells him that he wants the giant Alice out of his home. Pat calls Bill who climbs down the chimney, only to have Alice kick him out again! They then throw little cakes into the windows. Alice decides to eat one, hoping that it will make her smaller. It does exactly this.

Being smaller, she manages to run out of the house and into nearby woods, straight into a puppy (which looks giant to her now!). She runs as fast as she can and meets a blue caterpillar who makes her recite ‘You are old, Father William’. He also tells her that one side of the mushroom will make her bigger, and the other will make her smaller. First, she accidentally eats the mushroom that makes her smaller and her chin hits the ground. She quickly eats the other but this makes her a giant again and is then accused of being a serpent. Slowly, she nibbles on each piece of mushroom to make her the right height again.

Alice continues on her walk through the forest, and finds a little house. Watching from a distance, she sees two footmen, both fish, exchanging an invitation from the queen to the duchess to play croquet later on that day.

Before walking towards the house, Alice eats a little mushroom to make her smaller. After talking to the footman, she enters the house and finds the duchess, a cook, a cat with a wide grin, and a baby that looks like a pig all sitting in the room. The cook throws pots and pans, and when the duchess goes to get ready for croquet, Alice leaves with the baby.

Once outside, the baby turns into a pig and runs off into the woods. The Cheshire Cat then talks to Alice and sends her in the direction of the March Hare’s house. She makes herself a little taller with the mushroom and walks up to the house. She takes a seat and begins to talk with the Dormouse, the Mad Hatter, and the March Hare.

But before long, Alice becomes quite frustrated with their silly riddles and rudeness and decides to leave. When back in the woods, Alice notices a tree with a door at the base of its trunk. She walks through it and it brings her back to the first hallway, where she finds the key, unlocks the door and eats a little mushroom to make her smaller so she can fit through. Finally, she reaches the beautiful garden.

Once there, she sees some cards painting white roses red. She talks to them about this until a procession begins and the queen appears. She asks Alice f she plays croquet to which Alice replies yes, and they move off to begin the game.

Alice sees the white rabbit and her that the duchess is not attending because the queen has ordered her beheading. The game begins and the queen orders many guests to be beheaded. The Cheshire Cat then appears and the queen orders for him to be beheaded. An argument begins between the executioner and the king, and it is decided that the duchess must be called as it is her cat. The duchess is then given a second chance if she goes home instantly.

Alice is then told by the queen that she must meet the Mock Turtle. She does so, as well as the Gryphon and listens to the turtle’s sad story. They then teach Alice the Lobster Quadrille.

Alice is then told the trial is about to begin. When she arrives, she finds out it’s against the knave for stealing the queen’s tarts. Several witnesses are called, including Alice. During the trial, the mushrooms begin to wear off and Alice grows back to her normal size. As her normal size, Alice stands up to the queen, at which the deck of cards all jump on her. She tries to protect herself but is woken by her sister telling her she is just having a dream.

Alice goes home, leaving her sister to remember the Wonderland that she visited when she was younger.

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