Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a famous and influential English fantasy novel for children by Lewis Caroll ()[].

The original text

The original title was Alice's Adventures Underground, but it was published as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in 1865. It has generally become known simply as Alice in Wonderland.

The novel tells the story of a young girl named Alice falls who through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatures, and is seen as a fine example of the literary nonsense genre.

Translations and adaptations

The novel has been been widely translated. The text has also been adapted in various forms for stage, radio, screen and film on numerous occasions.

South African translations include:

an Afrikaans version called Avonture van Alida in Towerland by "Tannie" (a pseudonym, meaning: "aunt"), published by Macmillan in 1934
Alice se Avonture in Wonderland by André P. Brink, published by Human & Rousseau in 1965.
a South African adaptation, Alice's Adventures Underground, by Nigel Vermaas for PACT in 1972.
an adaptation by Malcolm Woolfson of the Lewis Carroll stories in 1973.
a Zulu translation called U-Alice Ezweni Lezimanga was done by Bhekinkosi Ntuli in 2014.
Alice in the Cape Flats, the classic tale through a "Kullit" lens, by Berlin Williams in 2025.

Performance history in South Africa

The novel has been performed numerous times in South Africa, in a variety of formats (e.g. as a straight play, as a musical, as a ballet, etc.) and under a range of titles.

1909: Alice in Wonderland presented by Wheeler's Juvenile Company at His Majesty's Theatre, Johannesburg in April.

1941: Produced by Phil Levard for African Consolidated Theatres at the Standard Theatre.

1972: Performed as Alice's Adventures Underground, adapted and produced by Nigel Vermaas for PACT at the Arena Theatre, Johannesburg and the Breytenbach Theatre, Pretoria in 1972. Members of the cast were Nan Gray, Ken Leach, Norman Coombes, David van der Merwe, Jud Cornell, Will Bernard, Nicholas Ellenbogen, Sue Kiel, Ian Walters, Lindsay Reardon, Gerben Kamper.

1973: Oh No Alice! presented by the Westville Theatre Club at the Westville Civic Theatre, adapted and directed by Malcolm Woolfson.

1978: Presented by Performing Arts Department of Pretoria Technikon in the Piet van der Walt Theatre, adapted and directed by Shirley Sacks and Abri le Roux.

1979: Alice presented by Wits Drama Department at the Nunnery Theatre, directed by Audrey Carosin.

1980: Alice in Winter Wonderland presented by CODS, at the Phoenix Theatre, devised and directed by Sylvia Lynacre.

1980/1981: Alice! (adapted from Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass), directed by John Badenhorst at The People's Space Theatre in December/January.

1983: Alice presented at the Bellville Civic Centre, adapted and directed by Julie Maree.

1987: Alice in Wonderland, adaptation by Glynn Day and Richard Farmer presented by Glynn Day Children's Theatre Company in the Baxter Studio, directed by Glynn Day.

2015: Produced by the Rother-Swain Drama Studio in the Pemads Little Theatre, Port Elizabeth, directed by Sharon Rother and Linda-Louise Swain, with students from the Studio.

2025: Alice in the Cape Flats presented in the Masambe Theatre (14 - 23 August), directed by Berlin Williams and presented by Haus: Events & Production with The Drag Cartel.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice%27s_Adventures_in_Wonderland

"Alice returns to a Port Elizabeth stage", Bob Eveleigh i ArtsLink 09/01/2015 15:40:25[1]

http://www.rotherswaindrama.weebly.com

Material held by NELM: [Collection: KORT, Maurice]: 2012. 379. 2. 24.

https://books.google.co.za/books/about/Avonture_van_Alida_in_Towerland_Nagevolg.html?id=Qv0lwAEACAAJ&redir_esc=y

Greyvenstein, Walter 1988. The history and development of children's theatre in English in South Africa. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Johannesburg: Rand Afrikaans University.

Go to ESAT Bibliography