Busy parents are being offered the chance to turn their Christmas shopping nightmare into a Wonderland, with help from Alice and the White Rabbit.

Alice (Sinead Marie Brennan) and the White Rabbit (Danny Coll)

A show at the Yorkshire Museum's Tempest Anderson Hall in the Museum Gardens, York, is intended to entertain their children long enough for the adults to carry out essential tasks - such as buying the youngsters' presents and keeping them a surprise.

Alice's Wonderland Pantomime draws on Lewis Carroll's classic tales using puppetry, magic, music and audience participation. The production has one actress playing Alice, while another actor takes all the other parts, including the Mad Hatter, Humpty Dumpty and The Jabberwocky.

Sinead Marie Brennan, who has come from Dublin to play Alice, was busy rehearsing at the museum with producer Daniel Coll, who donned the White Rabbit costume as actor Dean Armstrong is currently working in London.

Daniel said the show lasted about an hour-and-a-half, when children could be left.

The show is aimed at youngsters aged two to 12 years.

It runs from December 21 to January 5, with performances at 11.30am, 1.30pm and 3pm. There are no performances on December 25 or 26 or on January 1, and no 3pm performance on December 24 or 31. Tickets are £3.50 per person, £2 concessions, and family tickets are £10. For further information contact Leapfrog Productions on 01845-501168 or 07971-758977.

see COMMENT 'Wonder of Alice'

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