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.

South African translations include an Afrikaans version called Avonture van Alida in Towerland by "Tannie" (a pseudonym, meaning: "aunt"), published by Macmillan in 1934 and Alice se Avonture in Wonderland by André P. Brink, published by Human & Rousseau in 1965.

In 2014 a Zulu translation called U-Alice Ezweni Lezimanga was done by Bhekinkosi Ntuli

The text was also adapted in various forms for stage, radio, screen and film on numerous occasions.

South African adaptations include Alice's Adventures Underground, a stage version by Nigel Vermaas for PACT in 1972.

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.

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.