Pen High students are set to head through the looking glass.
The drama department is taking on Charles Turner and Steven Moore’s Alice in Wonderland with two casts and five performances.
Watch: Pen High drama heads to Wonderland
Carolina Bevanda, Grade 12 student at Penticton Secondary, is performing the titular role of Alice.
Her mother was never a fan of the animated film, but Bevanda polished off the old VCR to give it a watch to prepare.
“I knew I liked the idea of playing like an Alice character or like a Dorothy from Wizard of Oz, I liked that idea. I’m glad I got to play it this year,” Bevanda said. “I like just how posh she is, but naive at the same time. She likes things done a certain way and when they’re not done that way she’ll get all frazzled, but she’s usually wrong.”
She said a lot of work has gone into the honing in her posh British accent, watching a lot of the British claymation comedy Wallace and Gromit for inspiration.
The performance is one of the most complicated set designs the drama department has taken on yet.
“We have a lot of art students actually in the drama department and some have come on to help with sets. It’s been a lot of hours painting and preparing,” Bevanda said.
Izzy Tuckwood and Katie Lacroix are taking on the roles of Tweedledee and Tweecdledum, respectively. Lacroix read the Lewis Carroll novel when she was younger and is a big fan of the animated film.
Delving into the inseparable duo has been an interesting task for the two, comparing their performances to those depicted in the animated film and elsewhere.
“We’re really nervous and spacey, but we’ve also still have got that goof to us,” Tuckwood said.
“I feel like we are a lot less out there because Tweedledee and Tweedledum are very like in your face, but we’re kind of a little more nervous to be talking to this strange person (Alice),” Lacroix said.
Kaitlyn Turley has been flipping through the original novel as well as learning the intense body language of her character of the Red Queen.
“It’s a lot of screaming, a lot of yelling, a lot of mean actions, but that’s what you’ve got to do for acting,” she said.
Alice in Wonderland runs from April 18 to 22 at the Cleland Theatre. Tickets are $10 available at Pen Hi and showtimes are 7 p.m. with a Saturday matinee on April 22 at noon. Children 10 and under get in free, but must have a ticket.