Gresham's at the Fringe: Alice's Wonderland

Published on isbi School News dated Friday 16th of September 2011

Gresham's returned for a sixteenth year at the Fringe with a dark take on Lewis Carroll's popular classic 'Alice in Wonderland'. Old Greshamian Charlie Ponder wrote and directed Alice's Wonderland as a part-dream, part-nightmare production that left audiences with a new sense of wonder at the strangeness of the everyday. A cast of 14, Year 7 and 8 children worked extremely hard to bring this tale to life and performed with energy and maturity. As well as staging six midday shows, there was plenty of time for creatively promoting the play on the Royal Mile each day to bring in audiences, and visiting a selection of other Fringe productions including the Cambridge Footlights, Simon Callow, Flawless and Shakespeare for Breakfast. A wonderful time was had by all despite the vagaries of the Scottish weather.

Review from the 'Primary Times'

'It's always lovely to see a children's show performed by children! This is a simple yet clever production which manages in just under an hour to introduce relevant characters from Carrols' famous classic about a young girl's adventures in a dream world some scary and some delightful - but all quite magical! Highly recommended, its delivery is mature and articulate yet uncomplicated enough to capture and sustain the attention of younger audiences who may not be so familiar with the tale....An excellent performance none-the-less and Gresham's should be very proud!!'