Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass and What She Found There
A Design Justification by Chris Ringeisen
My concept for Alice in Wonderland begins even before she enters the looking glass. In the first scene, a large 'L' shaped platform sits C. The arm of the 'L' going upstage is unseen to the audience due to an illusionist trick called Pepper's Ghost (most successfully done at the Haunted Mansion ride at Walt Disney World); this will allow a projection of Alice to exist in the room visible to the audience, while in the identical unseen room the real actress plays out her scene. The two rooms are completely identical, and at the moment when the projection of Alice is seen leaving the looking-glass SL, the real Alice emerges SR in real-time.
The basic essence of my design is that things are not as they seem. Following the philosopher René Descartes' dream argument, as the play progresses it becomes increasingly more difficult to distinguish reality from fantasy. As Alice begins her journey, she comes across exotic plants; the shadows, however, (via a gobo) [RoscoNo. 78217 SUMMER LEAVES] are that of real world plants. At times, like scene nine where Alice is in the garden, the axes are flipped on their side, the roses now grow vertically and the floor rugs hung like a tapestry. Every fantasy element is equipped with a real-world equivalent or a logical explanation of how it functions. As Alice ventures deeper into the dream-like state, black lights are turned on to reveal Wildfire painted designs overtop the standard scenery; providing an additional scene change.
The stage is split into three sections: foreground, midground and background. Each section contain scenery elements that create an immersive world with depth and reality, as well as create a layered look. Additional effects include a conveyor belt, a scrolling backdrop, Periaktoi, additional gobos and a praxinoscope scope. The conveyor belt exists for several reasons: it is built into the stage floor on the midground and can easily set the scene of stage by quickly exchanging sets. Also, the script calls for several instances where Alice runs in place, and here it is successfully simulated by her running against the belt. In company with this effect is a scrolling backdrop, so while Alice is traveling, the backdrop moves behind her and changes the setting. There is one Periaktos between the foreground and the midground, and two between the midground and background; they are used for scene changes. By using a combination of the painted scenery, the separation made by the middle traveler between the two sets, and the Wildfire paint, allows for the large amount of combinations that can be arranged for new exiting scenes every time. The two Periaktoi upstage are also hinged, SR holds the rocky material for the Mock Turtle scene which opens and folds out, with an additional scene painted on the inside face of the triangle. The Periaktos SL on the second face of the three has a stone gateway secured to it after scene five;, when Alice pursues the rabbit through this exit, she opens the entire unit, ignoring the actual door to disappear inside. She exits the unit after blackout, and the Periaktos is rotated to its third face.
As I explained earlier about lighting playing a key part with both the luminescent paint and the shadows, a similar effect is used for creating the chess board: a combination of lights shuttered with barn doors meticulously placed create the white squares and consequently leave the black squares in the dark - with low lighting, naturally. Also a praxinoscope (an early technique for projecting animations) will be used on the SR proscenium wall which will consist of simple silhouette illusions that play during blackouts to help communicate magical effects and setting changes, as well as other miscellaneous effects.
Perhaps the most difficult illusion to accomplish is in scene 2, where Alice appears to grow and shrink. The doors will alternate on a tracking system, and each door will be a different height as if Alice were the one changing size. There will also be a series of concentric tables UR built into the stage floor working off of hydraulics. The largest of the three would slightly protrude to serve as a small platform for the table to sit on and to add focus. As Alice grows, the middle table lowers, revealing the smallest trick table, and as she gets smaller the 'platform' rises from the floor, putting the object out of reach. Once the scene is over, all three trick tables lay flush with the stage floor. Another illusionist trick included here, as well as other scenes is forced perspective.
The elements of reality however, are still present.
Even the characters follow the same theme; each individual exhibits a characteristic responding to their character. The Mock turtle would move slowly, be bald, and have a scrunched neck in a large coat. The flamingo would be a girl in a pink summer dress and orange stockings. There is a suggested alternate reality, a duality that links both Wonderland and England.
I have picked a theme that allows a duality of fantasy and reality. I wanted to entertain the audience with something they hadn't seen before, so by creating new organic plants was a perfect way to do this. Additionally, the color scheme is very bright, occasionally random or absurd. The show is very large with twenty scenes, so I had to keep in mind how each scene will transition with the unit portion of my stage. I easily eliminated two very difficult scenes by placing the spectator bench for the trial scene on two electric winches that serve as a balcony, (similar to the movie "To Kill a Mockingbird") and the Cheshire cat scene on a false branchlike structure on the proscenium wall SL. It was very important to me to leave the audience guessing through illusionist tricks while making sure it didn't take focus away from the story. On the other hand, I also believe integration of technology for live performance makes for a fascinating production and is very important to the survival of live theatre in the future.
The performance ultimately poses the question: What is the nature of reality?. When you dream, is it you who just finished dreaming of a butterfly, or a butterfly that just started dreaming of you? Performances like this challenge the audience and when properly educated can propel them into reflection well after curtain call. It will continue to inspire artists and designers for future generations as it has for me.