A Main Street Arts Original

By Bill Lockwood
Main Street Arts at 35 Main Street in Saxton’s River will celebrate its return to producing shows of its own with Sean Edward Roberts’ adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice in Wonderland books, “The Books of Alice” on July 29 and 30th at 7:00 pm. and on July 31 at 2:00 pm.

The work is both written and directed by Roberts, who is currently Facilities Manager, at Main Street Arts. He has been intrigued with the Alice stories for many years. Formerly director of World Under Wonder of both Claremont, N. H. and Ascutney, Vt. he says that “Alice was the inspiration” for that theater company. He also believes that for Main Street Arts the production is “a perfect first step back into the realm of theater.” He is in hopes that this interpretation of the two books “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking-Glass” by Carroll will give us a fresh perspective on those well-known stories.

Lewis Carroll is the pen name of Englishman Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. Born in 1835, he was an author, poet, mathematician, and an academic at Oxford for many years. He published “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” in 1865 and “Through the Looking-Glass” in 1871.In them Alice falls down a rabbit hole and finds a fantastical world. It is a world full of imaginative but quirky, and some would even say, lovable characters that have become part of our popular culture. Alice comes across the Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat, the Door Mouse, the White King and Queen from a chess set, and the Red King and Queen of Hearts from a deck of cards. Carroll also created the Word Ladder Puzzle which was published weekly in “Vanity Fair” Magazine between 1879 and 1881. His poems “Jabberwocky” and “The Hunting of the Snark” are classified in the genre of “Literary Nonsense” His novels, the two “Books of Alice” have a lot of nonsense as well. Walt Disney adapted them in the 1950s, and it is that version of the stories and, more importantly actually, the quirky characters, that are most familiar to our current generations.

Roberts says he first encountered the Disney version of the Alice stories. Since then, he has looked at the different versions, the life of Carroll, and the two books themselves. He says he listens to the audio versions of both books at least once a year. Roberts also credits much of his inspiration to his wife and fellow actor Kim Roberts. He has created a new character for her in this portrayal of the “Alice” books of a narrator and creator of the story called “The Knitter”. Kim says she has been into Disney since she was a child. She read the Carroll stories in her mid-teens. She states, “Aside from Alice’s snootiness, I really identified with a world of your own being a safer place even when you are creating your own monsters.” Kim says of her new narrator role that it is, “a personification of Lewis Carroll’s writing [and] probably one of the most challenging roles I have done.” She sees Sean’s story as, “very much like the classic stories, but in a refreshing and new way. Sean says the more recent versions have become “diluted” He found that a lot of the 24 members of his cast, varying in ages, were confused by his story. Sean says, “This show harkens back to the original.”. Kim adds, “There is not so much taken away from the stories, and that is meaningful. Not so much is missed, especially the word play.”

Mike Hines, who plays the King of Hearts, and the Frog Footman says he finds the original story very different from Disney. He says, “I like the new take on ‘Alice in Wonderland’.” Veda Crewe, who plays the White Queen says, “I tried to read it as a kid and hated Alice. As I grew older I came to love the nonsensical parts of it.” She says she now appreciates the “weird artistic community Carroll was a part of in his times”, and she feels, “Those guys were way out there. Carroll didn’t make all this up.” She also noted the age range of the cast saying, “That’s what Main Street Arts is all about.” Her husband, Robert Wellington, plays the White King. He notes that although they have collaborated in various roles in many productions, this will be the first time they are on stage together.

Another factor to makes the show even more intriguing is that Sean Roberts has six different actresses playing Alice. He notes that over the course of the two books Alice mentions how she has changed, and at one point, she asks, “Am I a different person now?” Six middle school to high school age prospective Alices came to the auditions, and Roberts cast them all. He says it all fits into the different times in the books that Alice goes “down the rabbit hole” into Wonderland. All but one of his Alices plays another role in the production as well. Roberts says there are many characters that appear in the books only once. With people playing multiple roles he can give his actors multiple moments on stage.

Roberts said Main Street Arts wanted something “lighthearted”, something people could escape into as we are coming out of Covid. Roberts says he is glad to be supporting the organization and helping to get it started again.

Covid protocols are guided by Sean Roberts, a certified theater Covid safety monitor. Masks will be required of audience members, and all actors and staff are up to date on tests and vaccines. You may access Main Street Arts at mainstreetarts.org, or call (802) 869-2960