'Alice Through The Looking Glass" at Loughcrew Gardens

Loughcrew Gardens will host Quantum Theatre Group"s production of 'Alice Through the Looking-Glass" this Sunday night at 7pm. This family favourite follows the very successful production of La Boheme which was held at Loughcrew over the June Bank Holiday weekend. International theatre company Quantum is bringing 'Alice through the Looking Glass" to just three Irish venues this summer: Loughcrew, Newcastle, Co Down, and Birr Castle. The show follows the fantastical adventures of Alice in the strange world she enters through the mirror above her drawing-room fireplace. What she finds there is a world laid out in the form of a giant chessboard and, before long, Alice finds herself entering the game as a white pawn. The story follows her travels across the board until she is crowned queen at the eighth square and along the way she encounters some of Lewis Carroll"s most memorable and enduring characters, among them Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the Walrus and the Carpenter, The Lion and the Unicorn, and the Jabberwock. The piece is also filled with many fine nonsense poems and songs which are still quoted today. This is a brand new adaptation by Michael Whitmore, faithfully charting the fabulous, wonderful and rather perplexing world created by the great Lewis Carroll, retaining the humour and quirkiness that many have come to hold dear in these classic tales. The gates open at 6pm on Sunday and folding chairs, blankets and picnics are welcome. Tickets cost €10 for adults and €8 for children. The Loughcrew Garden Opera"s 2009 production of 'La Boheme", which took place on the June Bank Holiday weekend, was a huge success with the venue celebrating 10 years of classical music-making. A new opera company was formed for the production which starred some of the country"s finest operatic talent. Last year, the estate went on the market amidst much publicity but, after careful consideration, the Naper family have decided not sell to their beloved family home.