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(Posted April 18)
Sir
Wil production of 'Alice in Wonderland' an entertaining
retelling of Lewis Carroll classic
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online
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Alice, played by Caroline Trippenbach, meets
Humpty Dumpty, played by Abdullah Alobedy,
in the Sir Wilfrid Laurier Secondary School
production of 'Alice in Wonderland'. Fred
Sherwin/Photo
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Fans
of Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" can
get their fix of the classic nonsensical tale during a
student production on this week at Sir Wilfrid Laurier
Secondary School in Orléans.
The
abitious production features a cast of thousands and a
small army of crew members both backstage and at the front
of the house. (Okay, maybe not thousands, but the program
is 12 pages thick and reads like a phone book.).
Alice
is portrayed in two roles as the older Alice, played by
Lauren Griffith, introduces the story and acts as a sort
of narrator as she retells her adventure down the rabbit
hole and through the garden door.
Caroline
Trippenbach plays the younger Alice as she meets a seemingly
enless array of perculiar and eccentric characters including
the Caterpillar, the Mad Hatter, the Dormouse, the Queen
of Hearts, the March Hare and the Mock Turtle.
Trippenbach
does a marvelous job in the lead role, particularly when
you consider the amount of dialogue she had to memorize
and the extremely short six-week production timeline the
cast had to work under. Trippenbach's Alice could best
be described was "perfectly petulent".
I
also loved Abdullah Alodeby's performance as Humpty Dumpty,
which was nothing short of brilliant; and Phillipe Bangs
hilarious job as the White Knight. Seeing Bangs fall off
his trusty steed/tricycle not once, not twice, but four
times had me laughing out loud.
Other
notable performances were turned in by Trevor Desjardins
who played the Mad Hatter; Ryan Griffith as the Mock Turtle,
and Jaime Westmore who played the Queen of Hearts, a character
with definite anger management issues.
The
rest of the cast includes Lucas Pasche as the King of
Hearts; Keigan Buffett as the Chesire Cat; Rachel Jefferies
as the White Chess Queen; Bridget Dueck as the Duchess;
Aris Penney as the White Rabbit; Natasha Gaucher as the
March Hare; Vanessa Pauze as the Dormouse; Brodie Buffett
as the Caterpillar; Kelly Korim as the Red Chess Queen;
Alex Lane as the Gryphon; Amanda Collie as the Three of
Hearts; Josie Armstrong as the Four of Hearts; Spencer
Strickland as the Fish-Footman; Warren Peters as the Frog-Footman;
Kathleen McKee as the Two of Spades; Stephanie Ellis as
the Five of Spades; Kelsey Conroy as the Sevven of Spades;
Mia Guibega as the Six of Diamonds; Rylan Fisher as the
Knave of Hearts; Alex Armstrong as Pig Baby; Kody Sharp
as Mutton; Katie Gratton as one of the cards; April Jarrett
as a Guard and Troy Arsenian and Rachelle Fischer as Tweedle
Dee and Tweedle Dum.
The
job of directing the huge ensemble was deftly handled
by veteran drama teacher Sonia Schrum who was ably assisted
by student director Taylor Stewart, artisitic director
Jessica Villeneuve, props manager Heather Head, technical
director Drew Ledingham and stage managers/producers Nick
Genge and Keagan Jenson.
The
Sir Wil production of Alice and Wonderland continues tonight
and tomorrow evening (April 18 and 19) in the cafetorium
at Sir Wilfrid Laurier Secondary School on Tenth Line
Road. Curtain time both nights is 7 p.m.
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The cast of the Sir Wilfrid Laurier production
of 'Alice in Wonderland' gather on stage for
the final banquet scene. Fred Sherwin/Photo
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(This
story was made possible thanks to their generous support
of our local business partners.)
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