Alice in Wonderland A Dramatization of Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass" — Reading Notes

Chess as Structure and Metaphor

The play's opening scene establishes chess as both a literal game and a structural principle. Carroll tells Alice that the chessboard is "like a battle," with kings and queens fighting. Gerstenberg carries this into the play's architecture: the Red Queen and White Queen appear as antagonists, and the final scene returns to Alice's home, suggesting a completed game. The chess metaphor also appears in the dialogue. When Alice meets Tweedledum and Tweedledee, they recite the "Walrus and the Carpenter" poem, which itself contains a kind of game—the oysters are lured, then eaten. The brothers' subsequent argument over a rattle leads to a mock battle, echoing the chessboard conflict. Gerstenberg thus uses chess not merely as a framing device but as a recurring motif that ties together the episodic encounters.

Staging the Nonsense: Dialogue and Stage Business

Gerstenberg's stage directions reveal how she translates Carroll's verbal nonsense into physical comedy. When Tweedledum and Tweedledee first appear, they sidestep in with arms around each other's necks, then hug before offering their free hands to Alice. The stage direction notes that Alice "does not like shaking hands with either of them first, for fear of hurting the other one's feelings," so she takes both hands at once, and they dance in a ring to "Here we go round the mulberry bush." This moment preserves the original's delicate social absurdity while making it visually clear. Similarly, the Queen of Hearts' repeated command "Off with her head!" is undercut by the Knave's aside: "It's all her fancy, that. They never execute anyone." Gerstenberg lets the audience in on the joke, turning the Queen's threats into theatrical bluster.

The Courtroom and the Return Home

The play's third act shifts to the Court of Hearts, where the Queen presides over a trial. The excerpt shows the Queen demanding Alice's name and immediately ordering her head cut off, only to be countered by Alice's "Nonsense!" and the King's plea to "consider, my dear, she is only a child." This scene condenses the trial from the book, but Gerstenberg adds a theatrical twist: the Frog appears with flamingoes and hedgehogs for croquet, and the Queen's order to "Off with his head!" is ignored. The chaos of the courtroom mirrors the earlier garden scenes, but the final scene returns to Alice's home, where the play began. This circular structure—from home to Wonderland and back—gives the dramatization a clear emotional arc, even as the individual episodes remain delightfully illogical.

Gerstenberg's adaptation is best approached as a theatrical work in its own right, not a substitute for Carroll's books. The play's brevity (five scenes, three acts) forces compression, but the dialogue retains the original's wit. Readers interested in stagecraft will note how Gerstenberg uses the chess frame, the repeated "Off with her head" motif, and the circular journey to create coherence. The cast list and production notes from the 1915 Chicago premiere—including the use of Tenniel-inspired costumes and "new art" scenery—offer a glimpse into early twentieth-century children's theater.