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Alice Day theme nod to Carroll's 'nonsense poem'

Galya DimitrovaSouth of England
News imageAdrian Cassidy/TheStoryMuseum Performers dressed up as Alice in Wonderland characters, including Alice, The White Rabbit and the White Queen walking on the streets of Oxford. It is sunny.Adrian Cassidy/TheStoryMuseum
During the festivities, the city is transformed into a Wonderland with activities such as street performances

A family-friendly museum has announced that the theme of this year's Alice in Wonderland festival is Snarks, Rhymes & Riddles.

The Story Museum in Oxford, which co-ordinates the annual one-day festival, says the theme of the celebrations on Saturday mark the 150th anniversary of author Lewis Carroll's nonsense poem, The Hunting of the Snark.

During the festivities, the city is transformed into a Wonderland with talks, street theatre, storytelling and workshops that celebrate the beloved literary character.

The museum's chief executive Conrad Bodman said they were "proud that Alice's Day has become such firm fixture in Oxford's cultural calendar".

News imageTheStoryMuseum A woman peeks in an Alice in Wonderland themed room at The Story Museum in Oxford. All the furniture is on the ceiling and it's upside down.TheStoryMuseum
The Story Museum in Oxford co-ordinates the annual one-day festival

Alice's Day takes place on the first Saturday in July, the date nearest the first telling of the tale in 1862, when on a "golden afternoon" on 4 July Oxford don Charles Dodgson took Alice Liddell and her sisters on a boating picnic up the River Thames from Folly Bridge.

He told them a story about a little girl who finds herself tumbling down a rabbit hole into a topsy-turvy world.

As per Alice's request, Dodgson wrote it down and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland got published in 1865, under the pen name Lewis Carroll.

Everyone is welcome on Alice's Day and dressing up is encouraged.

News imageAdrian Cassidy/TheStoryMuseum People dressed up as The Queen of Hearts and The Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland on Alice's Day in Oxford. Adrian Cassidy/TheStoryMuseum
Dressing up is encouraged on Alice's Day in Oxford

The museum says events will be taking place city-wide, including

  • Alice's Shop;
  • shadow puppetry and live singing at the Westgate Shopping Centre;
  • talks from the Lewis Carroll Society at The Bodleian Library;
  • croquet in the Master's Garden at Christ Church;
  • hands-on history at Museum of Oxford,
  • performances and an Alice-themed trail at Oxford Botanic Garden.

"You may catch a glimpse of Alice herself as she chases the White Rabbit, in a street theatre performance by Creation Theatre," it added.

Activities at the Story Museum will include Rhymes and Riddles with Oxford Poetry Library and a giant interactive boardgame called Snarks and Riddles, designed by the museum's young story curators.

Bodman said that over the years, they had "welcomed Alice fans from around the world who want to celebrate an enduring literary icon".

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