Alice — Join in the Race!
“What is a Caucus Race?” said Alice.
“Why,” said the Dodo, “the best way to explain it is to do it.”
Saturday, July 7 and Sunday, July 8, 2012 will be the fifth Alice’s Day event (celebrating 150 years since Lewis Carroll’s first telling of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland) in the historic city of Oxford, England.
While the majority of Alice’s Day activities will take place on Saturday July 7, The Caucus Race, a free outdoor event on Sunday, July 8, is also expected to attract thousands of visitors to the historic city the day before the Olympic flame for London 2012 passes through.
“We are proud to be selected to feature in the London 2012 Festival, part of the Cultural Olympiad,” says Cath Nightingale, Communications Director of the Story Museum. “Our Caucus Race is different from any other race since everyone can take part and there are no rules!”
The Caucus Race — a madcap re-enactment of the race featured in chapter three of Lewis Carroll’s classic story, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland — will take place on Merton Field, part of Christ Church where Lewis Carroll originally penned the novel. This very different multi-art-form kind of race is presented by the Story Museum in collaboration with Big Dance, and is directed by Cirque Bijou.
Dance, music, street theater, and creatures ranging from the Dodo to the Dormouse, promise spectacular Wonderland entertainment for young and old that is not to be missed. And those wanting to get into a Caucus Race musical mood can do so the day before. The Caucus Race story will be presented by the renowned Oxford Girls’ Choir, featuring opera singer baritone Roderick Williams as the Dodo. This is the first time that Williams, who wrote the children’s opera, Alice in Wonderland, will also be performing in it. I had the opportunity to chat with Williams about the production.
Roderick, please tell us about your children’s opera, Alice In Wonderland.
I wrote the full-scale children’s opera, adapting Lewis Carroll’s novel, which was first performed by the Oxford Girls’ Choir in 1992. There were dozens of solo parts for the singers, choral set-pieces, dances and the like, and it was accompanied by a chamber orchestra of 16 players. The opera was in two acts, with the first concerning Alice’s fall down the hole and her attempts to get into the garden, and with the second act describing her adventures when she finally finds her way in. Since then, the entire opera has been performed several times. I have also transcribed the piece for piano and smaller ensemble. The extract that we are performing on Saturday, July 7 is a short scene from the first act, The Caucus Race, where Alice meets various animals who have been swimming to safety from the pool of tears she created when she was larger. The Caucus Race comes about as an attempt to dry themselves off.
What inspired you to write the opera?
I had performed Dido and Aeneas alongside the Oxford Girls’ Choir several times and had seen first hand how well they could sing, act and dance. Richard Vendome, Musical Director of the choir, and I discussed a project that would make the most of the Oxford connection, a story based specifically around a young girl rather than a boy, which would make the most of all the talent in the choir. He then commissioned me to write the opera.
What for you is most special about the choir’s performance?
It is always a special and priceless experience to see anyone else perform something you have written. The act of taking a piece which was once mine and making it theirs is in essence what music is about, and I find that process profoundly exciting.
Why do you think the world is still crazy about Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,147 years after its original publication?
I think all of us have tried to make sense of an adult world which is fundamentally crazy. In Alice we see the world from her innocent point of view, and while it is magical, it is also utterly bizarre. I think all of us can relate to Alice’s struggle. Lewis Carroll, for all his quiet, academic existence, seems to have been able to empathize directly with his child heroine, and I think that is why his story is so completely absorbing.
The Caucus Race story, an extract from the children’s opera Alice in Wonderland, will be presented by the Oxford Girls’ Choir featuring Roderick Williams in the courtyard of the Story Museum, Oxford on Saturday, July 7 at 11 a.m., 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. For more information on Alice’s Day:http://www.storymuseum.org.uk/the-story-museum/alice
Roderick Williams and C. M. Rubin
Photos courtesy of The Story Museum and Roderick Williams
C. M. Rubin is the author of two widely read online series for which she received a 2011 Upton Sinclair award, “The Global Search for Education” and “How Will We Read?” She is also the author of three bestselling books, including The Real Alice in Wonderland.
Follow C. M. Rubin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@cmrubinworld
Alice: Why July 7, 2012
Oxford, England’s historic city, and the surrounding area will be the great stage for considerably curious goings-on this July 7, 2012.
Why July 7, 2012?
“All in a summer’s afternoon full leisurely we glide; for both our oars, with little skill, by little hands are plied…” — Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
July 7, 2012 is the beginning of a weekend of Alice-related events celebrating the 150th anniversary of the first telling of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to Alice Liddell and her sisters. The Alice story begins at Christ Church, Oxford.
Why Christ Church in Oxford?
“And what is the use of a book,” thought Alice, “without pictures or conversations?”
— Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
It was at Christ Church, Oxford that Charles Dodgson (pen name Lewis Carroll) first met the children of then-Dean Henry Liddell (head of the College). Their names were Harry, Alice, Lorina and Edith. Dodgson was photographing the College Cathedral from the Deanery garden. While in the process, he was approached by Alice and her two sisters who wanted to be photographed. A friendship blossomed and they became regular visitors to his rooms, and Dodgson to their nursery. During the long process of sitting to have their photographs taken, Dodgson would tell the children stories to keep them entertained. He was inspired by familiar things and people in the surrounding town when telling these stories. Hence, Christ Church College and other parts Oxford played a very important part in the creation of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Since 2008, the Story Museum of Oxford has produced Alice’s Day to celebrate Carroll’s famous stories. “This year being the 150th anniversary, we have some special events lined up to make the weekend extra special,” said The Story Museum’s Marketing and Communications Director, Cath Nightingale. Special events such as performances by Curious Company.
Why Curious Company?
“Every time I perform I am inspired by the encounters I have with complete strangers, privileged encounters allowed only by the rules of fantasy and the imagination.”
— Louise Rennie, producer/performer/owner of Curious Company.
My daughter Gabriella and I first experienced Curious Company in 2008. And if you come to our book signing at Waterstone’s in Oxford on July 7, you will discover why we featured them in our book, The Real Alice in Wonderland. On Alice’s Day, Curious Company will be staging another one of its now famously innovative Alice in Wonderland themed performances on the streets and in other public spaces around the city of Oxford. This gem of a theatrical organization revels in bringing something magical and memorable to each presentation that guarantees to take everyone down the rabbit hole and show him a really good time. “We are gatekeepers to Wonderland,” explains Louise Rennie. “We make theater that wraps itself around the audience; they stop being audience if they even ever thought they were in the first place.” On July 7, performances are built around the themes of Cards and Croquet.
Why the Cards?
“Why the fact is, you see, Miss, this here ought to have been a red rose-tree and we put a white one in by mistake; and if the Queen was to find out, we should all have our heads cut off.”
— Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
The Cards have a simple but important job to do in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and that is to paint the roses RED! The penalty for failure is fatal, so their motivation is strong. What can we expect from Curious Company’s 5-handed card game?
“Being cards as well as soldiers,” explains Louise, “they perform complex and seemingly pointless marching routines all prompted by the language of card games, such as ‘cut’, ‘split’ and ‘shuffle’, and offer up card tricks to order. With healthy doses of slapstick, acrobatics, clowning and contemporary dance, the Cards animate all manner of spaces and will amuse all kinds of audiences.”
The Cards will be dealt at The Story Museum in Oxford. All bids are raised as they split through the town to the Ashmolean Museum before shuffling across to the Museum of Natural History to play a game of Croquet with the Queen.
Why Croquet?
“The Queen! The Queen!” — Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
On Alice’s Day when the Queen barks, “You DO play croquet!” members of the audience need to say “Yes!” and give her their best curtsey or bow. You will already know if you are a hoop or a hedgehog, so it is just a matter of whose team you are on. Either way, be prepared to keep the Queen happy. And if the Queen is in one of her moods (which is more than likely), you need to do what she tells you. Remember, the Queen likes to be flattered. Presents are good too.
The Rules of the Game?
“Rules? What rules?” says Louise. “Alice doesn’t have a chance!”
Why July 8, 2012?
“What is a Caucus Race?” asked Alice. — Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
On Sunday, July 8, the day before the Olympic flame passes through Oxford, the organizers of Alice’s Day are turning convention on its head with their own eccentric forerunner to the Olympic Games. In the spirit of the original story, the Caucus Race is a…
“No room, No room!” cried the Editor.
Find out more about Alice’s Day in upcoming articles…
Photos courtesy of Curious Company.
C. M. Rubin is the author of two widely read online series for which she received a 2011 Upton Sinclair award, “The Global Search for Education” and “How Will We Read?” She is also the author of three bestselling books, including The Real Alice in Wonderland.
Follow C. M. Rubin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@cmrubinworld
