The Inner Circle
Youth Touring Company
Each year, the Inner Circle brings live theatre to as many school children in the area as possible with their Tour Show. To date, The Inner Circle has given almost 600 performances for over 130,000 students. This year, The Inner Circle is delighted to bring Lewis Carroll’s classics to life with “Alice in Wonder.” After falling down a rabbit hole, Alice finds herself in the upside down world of Wonderland. While she’s in this crazy land, she meets tons of curious characters including The White Rabbit, Red Queen, Mad Hatter, March Hare, Cheshire Cat, Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum, and others. This production is filled with imagination and creativity. From the falling down the rabbit hole, to Alice’s growing and shrinking, to the trees and Jabberwocky, audiences will start to see Wonderland come to life around them. “Alice in Wonder” also teaches lessons and creates thoughts along the way. Here are some great discussion questions to talk about the show with students:
1) The White Rabbit was in a hurry. Have you ever been in a rush to get somewhere? How did that change your attitude or mood?
2) The actors created several objects with their bodies: the rabbit hole, doors, tables, houses, trees. How would you create a tree using your body? Or a door? Or a house?
3) The White Rabbit, Pat and Bill (tiny puppet rabbits) are scared of the Giant Alice in their house. What was their solution to get rid of the Giant Alice? What are other things they could have done?
4) When Alice is in the woods, she meets a group of talking trees who tell the story of a squire and the Jabberwocky. The Jabberwocky is not a real creature, but what does it remind you of? Have you ever had to stand up to something that scared you? How did you do it?
5) When Alice meets The Caterpillar, she complains about being too small. The Caterpillar disagrees, saying it’s a “wonderful height to be.” Why do they have two different opinions of what the perfect size is?
6) Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee are friendly at first with shaking hands and saying how do you do. How do you like to greet people when you meet them for the first time? How do you greet your friends or family when you see them?
7) The Cheshire Cat says that everyone in Wonderland is “mad.” This doesn’t mean that everyone is angry, it means they’re all a little silly. When is the last time you were silly? Was it fun? It’s okay to be silly sometimes. When/where is it okay to be silly and when/where is it not?
8) The Mad Hatter and March Hare were having a tea party when Alice arrived. Why did Alice find them a bit rude? Have you ever felt left out? What did you do?
9) Everyone seems to be afraid of The Red Queen. What makes her a bully? How does Alice stand up for herself? How do you stand up for yourself against a bully or someone that you might be afraid of?
10) The White Queen says that she has “believed in as many as 6 impossible things before breakfast.” What’s something impossible you might believe in? What makes it impossible?