Alice in Wonderland at South Hill Park

Alice in Wonderland is 150 years old this year. Generations of children, myself included, have been enchanted by the White Rabbit and his whimsical friends from Wonderland. To celebrate the book's birthday a host of events have been planned and special souvenirs have been released - from limited edition stamps to Vivienne Westwood designing the cover and end papers of a new edition of the book. I jumped at the chance of taking part in an event commemorating the occasion and joined in the Caucus Race and had tea with the Hatter at my local arts center, South Hill Park.

The production was as imaginative as Alice is. As part of the audience I followed Alice through the former country house's gardens, meeting new characters at every turn. The children in our group were more than happy to interact with the characters and my boyfriend was even called upon by the Duchess to stir the mixture for her jam tarts! We all sat down to tea with with the Hatter, the March Hare and the Dormouse before meeting the Red Queen during the finale of the performance.

 I really enjoyed spending the afternoon doing something different and I came away in a dream like haze! The whole concept and interactivity made a thoroughly enjoyable experience - I was wishing my boyfriend's niece was a few years older as she would have loved it too! I'm really glad I took part in celebrating such a memorable piece of children's literature and I'd love to hear if any of you got involved.

South Hill Park kindly sent me a ticket for the production and offered a discount for a guest ticket.