Alice160... happened

(Charlotte Bradley as Alice and Daniel Page as the Queen of Hearts in Penny Farrow's Alice in Wonderland, London UK cast. Image by Steve Gregson)

As we're coming towards the end of Alice160, the 160th anniversary of the publication of the first Alice book, Alice's adventures in Wonderland, its worth reflecting on what this anniversary has meant and what events took place. I really do wonder what cultural studies scholars (such as Will Brooker) will make of this anniversary. Unlike 1932 or 1997, it is not a birth-year centenary for Dodgson. Like 2015, it is an anniversary of the first Alice novel's publication, except this year lacked major projects for the most part. Its worth thinking, first and foremost, on what an anniversary's purpose is. We might say to re-engage the general public on why a work of art exists and why it matters. With long dead artists like Dodgson, anniversaries help to keep the work relevant. In that regard, I think we can say that Alice160 has mostly worked, even if there are big gaps with mainstream projects this year just not really popping up. 

I'm going to focus on the UK the most here, since I know this place the best. If you as an international reader had a different or better Alice160 experience, I do hope you enjoyed it!

In the UK, the year has been dominated by smaller celebrations, often with a community focus. You can see this with the wool based character installations in Rugby, and a wealth of community theatre productions, normally of Duffield's adaptation, Wade's modern adaptation, or La Gaillenne's adaptation of almost everything.

(Aside: Adrian Mitchell's 2 part version (also known as the RSC/Royal Shakespeare Company Alice) is still criminally underseen in theatres, despite being the best script on the market. I maintain it does both books better than La Gaillenne's does. I strongly recommend theatres go for Mitchell when considering a version of Alice to produce.)  

The big theatre project this year was Penny Farrow's sell out musical Alice coming to London with a new UK cast (it had premiered in Sydney a few years ago). I didn't get to see this, and unfortunately I don't think it has a published script so I can't review it. However it got rave reviews in the press, with many saying that it had same whimsy and spirit as the novels. There was no brand new big theatre creation like for 150, where we had Wonder.land from National Theatre. Several new works have popped up for the festive season, although at the moment no one knows if Geoff Aymer's modern Peckham set adaptation or Chinonyerem Odimba's play will go the distance, or even if those two will be published or get good reviews. We'll see!

The biggest new bit of information academically we had this year was the collection donated to Oxford University, something I hope will get a catalogue book or digitalised listings. 

Film/TV this year was sadly mostly an off year. There are 2 Alice160 projects, but you'll likely see them next year. The P.A works anime Dive in Wonderland, with dual Alice characters, and the Russian/Estonian musical Alisa v Strane Chrudes. Both, oddly enough, have had very mixed reviews in regions that have had first release. Dive has been criticised for being too random and Alisa has been criticised for not adhering enough to the audio musical its adapting. Time will tell if these critiques are relevant for worldwide viewers of these works. 

I noticed the most in the UK, that events around Alice160 were almost always to do with the novels, or adaptations of them. This is fantastic, but the keen eyed among you may have noticed something. Apart from small things here and there, minimal mention of Lewis Carroll/Charles Dodgson himself! Unfortunately the biographical elements were mostly missing from this anniversary year. Culturally the UK seems somewhat keen to capitalise on Alice160, but very much not keen to talk about Charles Dodgson.

After 25 years of post myth research (Leach, Woolf, ect) I have to wonder why!

Cursed Alice found media: late night aired Channel 4 version

(Hetty Baynes as Alice and other actors at the tea party scene, in the TV special's first half. Image credit: IMDB)

This is a difficult one to talk about, sorry if I make any errors on the background. If you know more about this than me, its fine!

Channel 4 and Ken Russell (yes the UK director provocateur, you can see where this is going already) made in 1995 a version of Alice that for reasons unknown, relays the history of the Soviet Union/USSR, with particular focus on Russia. Channel 4 gave Russell the money out of the documentary side of the budget, so yes this does count as that. It doesn't feel like it for various reasons (I'll explain in a bit) but its technically a history documentary. The piece was called "Alice in Russialand" and it aired on late night channel 4, I believe airing twice in 1995 and 1996. It then vanished for decades, and finally turned up on lost media Reddit, someone finding it through a VHS tape from Brazilian 1990s TV, where it also appears to have aired, late night on an arts channel.

What is this version like? Despite NOT being extreme as Russell's other work (he was working to Channel 4 broadcast rules after all) it still manages to be eyebrow raising and rather alarming in terms of tone in many places. If you thought the Svankmajer 1988 version was creepy, goodness.

It doesn't start this way, though. It starts in a fairly normal satire genre place, somewhat similar to Pla's 1976 Argentinian version or 1988 Svankmajer, using political figures as stand ins for Wonderland characters. The atmosphere however feels off. As if there is something wrong with the tone of the work. You can see it in how Hetty Baynes acts as Alice. So sincere that she crosses over to creepy. She looks like Tenniel's illustration, except her smile is far too wide and she's far too detached from everything she comes across. Baynes plays this role perfectly. You will have chills.

7 year old Alice really just wants to see a ballet, but unfortunately for her, she's stuck in a history lesson which goes through 200 years of Russian/USSR history all the way up to 1995. You think this might upset her, an unwanted difficult, long history lesson when all she wants is to see theatre, but because of how off this version is, Baynes's Alice barely cares. Her journey in hour one is also a very quick Alice in Wonderland adaptation, going from doors all the way up to trial fairly faithfully. This part of the special is done like a Victorian style stage play, with elaborate and fairly beautiful sets. The most part of the special has a storybook vibe, despite the satire, until it doesn't. Remember this is absolutely not for children. Remember who the director is... 

Remember how off I said the entire special felt? This comes bursting to the forefront when Alice wakes up under a tree... and meets the cheshire cat. Immediately we're thrown off course. As every Carrollian knows, the cheshire cat comes FAR before, after the Duchess. What is he doing here? He's here to tell Alice he's from Chornobyl, and there, everyone died. The Cat seems to find this hilarious. Alice has to follow him, he apparently knows more information.

Now cat wants to show Alice and us, some clips about the USSR. Some of these are archival clips, some are cultural, some are artistic, and some I wonder if Russell just made up himself. The way the compilations of clips are organised are to be as jarring as possible. Some feature overlays upon overlays and dissonant sound. Again I think some of this may be edited by Russell. I couldn't find it confirmed. At some point, your jaw will be on the floor just due to the amount of clips and noise and distortion. As Alice sees 1995 new year across Europe, she finally wakes up...

Oh wait. She doesn't (again). No er.. Alice's reality with her sister is revealed to be just part of a massive book set. Those elaborate book sets from hour one were a part of it. There is no riverbank reality.  Baynes's Alice can't go home. She can never go home.

Sneaks up on you, doesn't it?

I'm not sure who I'd recommend this to. It is very much a curio. History scholars would find it interesting. Europe scholars would too, also film historians. People who like Russell's work would like this. Even though its intended as a documentary, the abrupt shifts in tone and the fact you are never sure where you sit with it, that's more psychological horror. I'm sure a normal documentary could have been done, but its the left turn halfway through this that you'll really remember.

Alice 160: "Viens nous voir Alix!" - Alix and the Wonderfolk (2019 -21) and carrollian language learning.

(All the major characters. Credit: ici.tou.tv) 

7 year old Alix walks through her mirror into a magical land. She befriends the wise walrus, inventive Hatter and Hare, and energetic egg Gros Coco. Their adventures are hindered by the overbearing queen like boss supreme director. (IMDB description) 

Regular viewers of the French conglomerate tv Channel TV5MONDE in Europe may have noticed things have gotten rather Carrollian in the mornings. As part of its Jeunesse (Children's/Youth) programming TV5MONDE Europe have started showing season 2 of the French Canadian series "Alix et les Merveilleux" (Alix and the Wonderfolk) This little half an hour series ran on Canadian TV for 3 years.  This series could well gain a audience of language learners, and Carrollians, beyond the intended child target market. I'll explain in a moment why I think if you're learning French (any variant, but especially French as spoken in Canada) this show will really help. First we'll talk about what this series actually is!

(Alix (Rosalie Daoust) and Rabbit (Inès Talbi) Photo Credit: TV5MONDE)

Although not an adaptation of the famous novels, Alix... has a end credit which translates to "liberally inspired by the work of Lewis Carroll" and certainly it makes good on that promise. The spirit of Carroll's original books is retained here by how bizarre the plotlines per episode get. There will be turns that logically make no sense, or are designed to make the audience laugh. In several episodes Alix breaks from daydreaming to ask her family a question related to her dream, which on answering, she dives back to imagining again. 

In this sense Alix holds on to the intent of Carroll's work the way other children's series using the characters normally don't. It remembers to be as strange as a literal dream, as well as amusing.  Plots generally start with Alix facing a problem in real life, typically with her parents, sister, or brother (all double as roles in Wonderland later) then daydreaming she goes through a mirror under the stairs and encounters friends who are having similar problems in a parallel plot. Yes, it has the same set-up as Adventures in Wonderland (1992) and long term fans of that can consider this series a direct successor. I prefer this series personally just for more how carrollian it feels and how off the rails plots can go.

(The Pause tea party. Photo Credit: TV5MONDE)

Rosalie Daoust's Alix, energetic, helpful, and a daydreamer,  is Alice in modern-day childhood, whilst Grande Patronne (Marilyn Castonguay) with selfish demands, royalty status, and want to send someone to the dungeon, mirrors the Queen of Hearts. Rabbit (played by Inès Talbi) mixes the White Rabbit with White Knight characters, having Rabbit's overall characteristics but knight's inventing flair (like Knight, the inventions always go catastrophically wrong one way or another) Chef (Martin Héroux) is a mix of Caterpillar, King of Hearts and the footmen characters, being a messenger for royalty, and loving rules and order. Morse (as played by Didier Lucien) is a strange mix of the looking glass sheep (he runs a shop with a magical counter) and the Walrus (giving his love of raw fish) Humpty Dumpty (played by Alex Desmarais) re-named Gros Coco, is a young egg, and often overexcited, and perhaps the character here who is the furthest from their original form. Hatter and Hare ( Jean-Philippe Lehoux and Luc Bourgeois) are as usual, but Hare is a musician who has anxiety, and this Hatter actually owns a hat workshop.  The "mad tea party" is a enforced tea break that occurs once per ep where characters are obligated to drop what they are doing in the plot, take tea together, and play a childhood game, or just one that is plain weird. 

Carrollian objects and themes such as: cards, strange versions of croquet, chess, nonsensical trials, weird kitchen running, songs that make no sense, dancing, ridiculous advice, bad advice, logic-less laws, seeing dreams as important, and magical foods all make their due appearances in the series. Not bad at all for something that is nominally an "inspired by" work. There is an unshakable sense that the writing team has read Carroll's novels over several times, and has tried to re-create the same feelings of fun, whimsy, and outright strangeness in their own work. I can't really say this for any other series which also fall into the "character and location using" category.

(Alix (Rosalie Daoust) encounters Chef (Martin Héroux) (Photo credit: TV5MONDE)

So why may Alix as a series help Carrollians who specifically are learning French? First of all, the series is already has characters you'll know, albeit in a different form. Secondly, it has a jaw dropping 195 episodes, making it one of the longest "inspired by" Carroll series to run. Thirdly, the language, being for younger audiences, is somewhat simplified, meaning if you're a beginner/late beginner in French, this is for you. The accents of the actors also have a bonus of being for the most part, VERY clear. You can 100 percent learn from this series also if you aren't learning the French Canadian variation of French (just bear in mind some words are different in standard, as is prononciations). 

Lastly, its just fun. Fun is something that is difficult to replicate in language learning and if this series can be that for you, it will certainly help. 

Alix and the Wonderfolk airs on TV5MONDE Europe on weekdays. It is on demand worldwide at PLUS, and some episodes with French subtitles are on Archive.org. 

Everything coming to V and A's Alice exhibition that we know so far...

This week V and A museum in London unveiled the first batch of confirmed exhibits which will be part of their massive Alice retrospective exhibition in June 2020.

Here's a list of everything we know so far. 

Of course I must add as a disclaimer that all this is subject to change. 

NOTES:

The name of the exhibition has now changed twice. It is now called "Alice: curiouser and curiouser". It is still not known if this is the final name for the exhibition.

As far as I know this is still ACMI's Wonderland but with LOTS of added things for London. 

With that out of the way...

CONFIRMED

• Charles Dodgson's manuscripts (Probably AAUG, possibly letters as well) 

• National Art Gallery prints of John Tenniel's Alice (only AAIW confirmed at moment, probably will feature TTLG too)

• An Old Woman (Ugly Duchess) print Quinten Massys. 

• Photographs of Alice Liddell (Julia Margret Cameron confirmed, Charles Dodgson will likely feature too)

• Tim Walker and Annie Leibovitz fashion photography. Fashion by Iris van Herpen. 

• Japanese clothing 

• Stage costumes and designs, Christopher Wheeldon's AAIW ballet confirmed. 

• Section on surrealism and 1960s psychedelia featuring Max Ernst, Peter Blake, Salvador Dalí, Yayoi Kusama,  Joseph McHugh and Ralph Steadman.

• Music section on the Beatles. 

• Massive film section: 1951 and 2010 concept art confirmed (more to come?) 

References:

Association, P. (2019, November 28). Curators promise 'mind-bending' Alice In Wonderland exhibition. Retrieved from https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/lifestyle/entertainment/curators-promise-mind-bending-alice-in-wonderland-exhibition/.

Cowan, K. (2019, November 28). Take a mind-bending trip down the rabbit hole at the V&A, as it celebrates Alice in Wonderland. Retrieved from https://www.creativeboom.com/inspiration/alice-curiouser-and-curiouser-the-vas-landmark-exhibition-in-2020-will-celebrate-one-of-the-most-iconic-and-inspiring-stories-of-our-time/.

Mattfromlondon. (2019, November 30). V&A's Alice In Wonderland Exhibition Will Take You Down A Rabbit Hole Into A Magical World. Retrieved from https://londonist.com/london/v-a-alice.

Mitchell, B., Peake, T., & Super Nintendo World Universal Studios Japan. (2019, November 29). V&A unveils immersive Alice in Wonderland exhibition for 2020. Retrieved from https://blooloop.com/news/va-alice-wonderland-curiouser-exhibition/.

Time Out London. (2019, August 1). Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser: V&A: Museums in London. Retrieved from https://www.timeout.com/london/museums/alice-curiouser-and-curiouser.

Time Out London. (2019, August 1). Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser: V&A: Museums in London. Retrieved from https://www.timeout.com/london/museums/alice-curiouser-and-curiouser.

Endless list of favourite adaptations: 1972

ENDLESS LIST OF FAVOURITE ADAPTATIONS: 1972'S ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND

Perhaps the adaptation for many people. This used to air every Christmas when I was younger. Loved it then, still do. One of my favourite adaptations of the first book. 

These lovely press images are from Diomedia and Alamy. 

ARCHIVE POST: PSA: About those cakes in 1988's Alice...

The cakes in Alice (1988) bare a curious resemblance to Czech “povidlove kolacky” or prune marmalade cakes! In fact, they may well be the same!

Thank you very much to instergram user kamilabert for pointing this out!

UPDATE: Found an English explanation of what these are: according to wikicommons, these are " Czech sweet bread with plum jam or poppy seeds" 

There are lots of variants of these online. History and Recipe in English here. 

Alice, Alice and pig baby, A Mad Tea Party, The Queen of Hearts and Flamingo Croquet, by  Daniel Fernandez for Alice's adventures in Wonderland

These are some of my favourite illustrations. I just LOVE these! 

Art by Sofish for Through the Looking Glass

Plum Awards 2019: My personal favourite entries

This year's annual competition for Children's illustrators Plum Awards had an Alice's adventures in Wonderland theme. 

As to be expected the illustrations ranged from inventive and based on the novel to based on the characters only.

For this little image gallery I selected illustrations that correspond with Carroll only. 

I could have honestly chosen a thousand of these illustrations but here is a few of my favourites. These illustrate (!) the wonderful diversity of artists and art in this completion. 

Sadly none of my favourites made the final cut (you can see who the winner was here) 

Catherin Peterslund's interpretation of Alice and the White Rabbit. 

Mónica de la Torre's Alice

otenyakova's interpretation of the Lobster Quadrille. 

Trudi Murray's "anti-establishment" teenage Alice and the Queen of Hearts 

Ernica Root's thoroughly modern Alice. Taken from a 1 page large spread. 

Floss Pottage's Alice

Jemma Jamie Skidmore's Alice and the White Rabbit (cropped from larger photo by me)

Anastasia Lü's interpretation of a ukranian Alice falling down the rabbit hole.

Katherine Ahmed's Indian Alice

Zuzanna Turek's Alice reciting how doth the little crocodile 

Orange Marmalade by dagmar berkova for Alice's adventures in Wonderland

I LOVE Berkova's illustrations for both Wonderland and Looking Glass. Should really get a copy... 

UPDATED "A Film for children... Perhaps." UK's channel 4 and the curious history of Svankmajer's Alice.

Recently re-reading Clare Kitson's essay on the 1988 surrealist adaptation of AAIW, Alice, I was struck by a rather unusual section.

Kitson was a commissioning editor for animation at UK TV's channel 4 in the late 80s, where she oversaw part of the funding for Jan Svankmajer's Alice.

Due to pressure from the then Czech government, as his short films had grown increasingly political, svankmajer had sought out international money to fund Alice. 

Amazingly Kitson notes that "channel 4 boldly signed the deal, comitting £70,000... in the full knowledge that.... the film may not even get made"

Here's where the story becomes curiouser and curiouser. The other commissioner of the film, German TV channel Hessischer Rundfunk, had offered up the money from the children's department. Yet Svankmajer's film is absolutely not for children.



To solve this, a strange compromise was struck. Channel 4 would show the film in full at midnight, in keeping with their late night offerings which had a reputation for being unusual or in some way controversial.

The film would also be cut into 6 episodes and shown to a family audience over the Christmas holidays. 

"the film was sold as a six-episode serial as well as a feature film. Both versions have been aired on Channel 4." (Animesuperhero) 

Channel 4 worked with the ITC (UK TV content regulators, now called ofcom) to cut any content which was deemed unsuitable for a young audience. This would have likely been a mammoth task.



What was cut for this version? Clare Kitson remembers that "the nails in the pot of jam (during the rabbit hole scene) were removed"

Finding any record of this cut version is nigh on impossible.  Sadly there appears to be no real record of this except for Clare Kitson's essay for the BFI.

I would honestly love to find this cut version. It sounds fascinating! 

UPDATE 6/9/10:

I have managed to find a TV Schedule for December 1989 which confirms that yes, the 6 part vesrion does indeed exist.

A further look into the BFI archives reveals 3 tapes, one stated as with voiceover at the beginning and end. It also has a runtime of 13 minutes, which is plausible for this cut version.

This year marks 20 years since Karoline Leach's groundbreaking research...

It really is 20 years since Leach's In the Shadow of the Dreamchild. 

Can you believe? Where's the time gone? 

I'm extremely thankful for this research as I'm sure many of us are. It contextualised Dodgson in his era and pointed out gaping holes in prior biographies. 

Its influence can still be felt now in Carroll academia as it spurred Jenny Woolf's concise biography and analysis and later influenced Edward Wakeling's analysis of Dodgson's letter circle.

Not bad for something 20 years ago was being called to be forgotten by older scholars who hated to see holes in their research being exposed. 

Perhaps the only downside in this is the split among Carroll scholars: one which is slowly being repaired over time as more experts are influenced by Leach. 

I only wish Leach's research had impacted the general public's view of Mr Dodgson and fiction about him. That seems to be stuck in a pre Leach time limbo at the moment. Here's hoping that changes soon.

Happy 20th anniversary, In the Shadow of the Dreamchild!

A quick look at some of the treasures in the magic of Alice in Wonderland exhibition in Japan!

Just some of the wonderful treasures in the Magic of Alice in Wonderland exhibition currently in Japan.

These images are courtesy of the exhibition's Instagram. 

The exhibition catalogue features all of this plus an essay by World expert Edward Wakeling: unfortunately it is not available to order online.... 

 

`Stuff and nonsense!' said Alice loudly. `The idea of having the sentence first!'   `Hold your tongue!' said the Queen, turning purple. `I won't!' said Alice. 

Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll's) original illustration of Alice and the Queen of Hearts for Alice's adventures Under Ground/Alice's adventures in Wonderland.

(Image via Alice'sillustratedaventures)

FAVOURITE DANCERS FROM THE 2011 AAIW BALLET: EDWARD WATSON AS CHARLES DODGSON/WHITE RABBIT

FAVOURITE DANCERS FROM THE 2011 AAIW BALLET: EDWARD WATSON AS CHARLES DODGSON/WHITE RABBIT

(1ST CAST DODGSON/RABBIT, ROYAL BALLET)

World Premiere/1st cast Dodgson/Rabbit Edward Watson is the one everyone remembers and with reason: he really is that good.