“Alice’s Adventures ”
A comedy in eight scenes
Adapted from Lewis Carroll’s Classics
by Kathleen Lockwood

about the play: “Alice’s Adventures” was developed as a touring production for Elementary Students, performed by Middle or High Schoolers. We raised over $1,000. per day busing in the students. It’s also been successful as a summer Drama Camp production. The cast can be quite large, or use lots of doubling.

The Characters
Narrator: Offstage, from the projection booth, or onstage in a comfortable chair, storyteller style. Must have versatile voice, capable of sound effects.
Alice
The White Rabbit/March Hare
The Dormouse/Knave Of Hearts
The Dodo/A Card
The Mock Turtle
The Fish Footman/King Of Hearts
The Frog Footman/A Card
Bill The Lizard
The Caterpillar/A Card
The Cheshire Cat
The Duchess
The Mad Hatter
The Queen Of Hearts

The Scenes
Down the Rabbit Hole to Wonderland
The Caucus Race and the Dormouse’s Tale
A Caterpillar’s Advic
The Duchess’ Soup
The Mad Tea Party
The Queen’s Lawn Game
The Tale of the Mock Turtle
The Trial of the Knave of Hearts

The Stage: Open staging with a doorway, and lots of props. Have colorful trees, a carpet painted as chessboard and a mushroom for Wonderland. This production is suitable for touring.

From the play:
Enter the King and Queen in formal procession. They stop in front of Alice.

Queen: Who’s this? (No one answers) Idiots! What is your name, child?
Alice: Alice, so pleased your Majesty.
Queen: And, who are these? (She indicates the cards on the ground)
Alice: How should I know? They look like a few old cards to me.
Queen: Off with her head!
King: Reconsider, my dear. After all, she’s only a child.
Queen: (To the cards) Get up! (They do) What have you been doing here?
ONE: Um…er…if it pleases your Majesty….
Queen: Off with their heads! (To Alice) Can you play croquet?
Alice: Yes!
Queen: Come on, then. (She claps her hands) The Game. The Game. Be quick about it. (The cards rush about setting up)
Alice: (To the King) Where’s the Duchess?
King: She’s under sentence to be beheaded.
Alice: Pity.
Queen: (Roaring) Get to your places! I want to begin! (Everyone rushes around, bumping into each other, with croquet mallets flying and dolls heads rolling all over the stage.)
NARRATOR: A crazy game of croquet proceeds, with only the Queen allowed a score.
Alice stops playing when she sees the Cheshire Cat.
Alice: Goodness! I never played the game this way.
Cheshire Cat: How’s it going?
Alice: I can’t understand how they play croquet here and I don’t see how there’s anybody left in the Kingdom, what with all these beheadings.
Cheshire: How do you like the Queen?
Alice: Not at all! She’s so extremely…(Alice sees that the Queen is behind her) likely to win, that it’s hardly worth finishing the game.
(The Queen smilingly goes off and the King comes up to Alice)
King: Who are you talKing to?
Alice: It’s a friend of mine, the Cheshire Cat. Allow me to introduce you.
King: Hmmm. I don’t like that silly grin at all. But it may kiss my hand, if it likes.
Cheshire Cat: I’d rrr…atherrr not.
King: How impertinent! He may not look at me like that.
Cheshire Cat: A cat may look at a King. It’s the law.
King: Get it out of here! Rude thing.
Queen: (Coming up) Off with its head! (Then an argument begins)
One: You can’t cut off the head of a Cheshire Cat that doesn’t belong to you.
Five: It’s the law.
Queen: Whose law?
Seven: Your law, your Majesty.
Unidentified Voice: Off with her head!
Queen: (Furious) Who said that?
King: It was Five.
Five: I’m sure it was the Knave.
Queen: The Knave of Hearts? I’ve a thing or two to say to him! Whose cat is this?
Alice: It belongs to the Duchess, so please your Majesty.
Queen: Fetch me the Duchess.
King: She’s in jail, dearest.
Queen: What’s she doing in jail?
One: You ordered her there, your Majesty. She is to be beheaded.
Queen: Ah! Then, let’s go immediately to speak with her about this rude Cheshire Cat. I’ll have its head!

About the Playwright:
Kathleen Lockwood began her award-winning writing career at age fourteen as a National Merit Scholarship finalist for her short story. Her loves for both theatre and writing combined with her discovery of Playwriting! She holds a BFA in Theatre Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University and has been associated with many Tidewater Theatres. She co-founded the Tidewater Dramatists Guild with Jean Klein in 1976, and served the City of Virginia Beach as Performing Arts Supervisor at the Kempsville Playhouse and with Shakespeare-by-the-Sea Festival. She founded Little Theatre for the Deaf and Shadows ‘n Lights Theatre Company under the auspices of VSAarts. Her adaptations of children’s stories and plays featuring characters with disabilities are featured on HaveScripts.com.