The Wonderland Challenge: Alice In Wonderland

Brad Shaw
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My name is Brad Shaw. I’m a voice actor, presenter and entrepreneur. At the beginning of the first lockdown, I was diagnosed with stage 3 melanoma and was told that I would have to face a year of immunotherapy infusions. I decided that I’d engage with the voiceover community and create a project that we could all get involved with. The Wonderland Challenge was born. I split Alice in Wonderland up into 159 one minute chunks and offered it out to my colleagues. The idea was that you record a minute and donate something to the NHS. I was overwhelmed with the response. I started to get enquiries from celebrities such as Dame Harriet Walter and Michael Palin amongst others. I collected the clips and started to piece it all together.  To find out more about the project, follow this link. I will be releasing the book as a podcast, chapter by chapter until it is complete. EnjoyPS I have been in remission for 2 years now.

Episodes

  1. Chapter 12: Alice’s Evidence

    12/21/2022

    Chapter 12: Alice’s Evidence

    Alice jumps to her feet, knocking over the jury box in her hurry. Hastily, she replaces all the creatures who have fallen out onto the floor. The King tells her that "Rule Forty-two" bans from court anyone more than a mile high, but Alice refuses to leave.  The King subjects the Knave to a meaningless grilling and then sums up the evidence with hilarious ineptness. The Queen announces that the Knave should be sentenced before the verdict is reached. Alice blares out, "Stuff and nonsense!" Shocked, the Queen shouts, "Off with her head!" Alice, now her full size, says, "You're nothing but a pack of cards!" Immediately, the whole pack soars into the air and rains down on her head.  Alice wakes to find herself back on the riverbank, with her older sister brushing fallen leaves off Alice's face.   Chapter 12 was wonderfully read by: Phyllis LoganMartin DelaneyHarriet WalterHenry GoodmanChristopher BigginsDavid MenkinAndrew ZadrejkoDella PhillipsPatricia HodgeStephen McCarthyBrad Shaw

    15 min
  2. Chapter 11: Who stole the Tarts?

    12/20/2022

    Chapter 11: Who stole the Tarts?

    Back on the croquet lawn, Alice and the Gryphon learn that the Knave of Hearts has been charged with stealing a plate of tarts. The bewigged King of Hearts is serving as judge in the trial, and 12 creatures make up the jury. The White Rabbit is acting as herald.  "Consider your verdict," the King tells the jury before the trial even begins. It's clear the whole proceeding will be a shambles. In the midst of the confusion, Alice realizes that she's starting to grow again. The next witness is the Duchess's Cook, who refuses to give evidence and slips away in the confusion. Alice is startled to hear her own name being called as the third witness.   Chapter 11 is wonderfully read by: Mark FernandesElizabeth jobling Rebecca CourtneyJanine Cooper-MarshallWill Harrison-WallaceJane PerryJohn ChallisRuth Jones Jo Ashe (Narrator of the year)Rosie Ashe

    12 min
  3. Chapter 10: The Lobster Quadrille

    12/19/2022

    Chapter 10: The Lobster Quadrille

    Though the Mock Turtle is crying almost too hard to talk, it manages to sob out that Alice has probably never heard of a Lobster Quadrille. When she agrees that she has not, the Mock Turtle becomes a vortex of energy. He and the Gryphon scream out instructions while "capering wildly about." With equal suddenness, they collapse and look mournfully at Alice. Then they dance solemnly around her, singing.  The dancing over, they ask Alice to recite some lessons for them. She obediently does so, getting the words wrong. Then the Mock Turtle begins to weep out a song about turtle soup. In mid-song, someone calls, "The trial is starting!" The Gryphon takes Alice's hand and rushes her away.  Chapter 10 is wonderfully read by:   Elizabeth Bloom  Ben Norris  Jared Zeus  Alexandra Metaxa  Margaret Ashley  Natalie Chisholm  Eilidh Beaton  Philip Labey  Griff Rhys Jones  Matthew Gravelle  Michael Lumsden  Cathy Smith  Julia Winwood

    15 min
  4. Chapter 9: The Mock Turtle’s Story

    12/18/2022

    Chapter 9: The Mock Turtle’s Story

    Alice and the Duchess (who's been reprieved from execution) stroll around the garden together until the Queen commands Alice to return to the game. When the game dissolves because the Queen has put all the players under sentence of death, the Queen takes Alice to meet the Gryphon, who introduces Alice to the Mock Turtle.  The Mock Turtle dolefully tells Alice a long, sad story about his education until the Gryphon interrupts and says, "Tell her something about the games."   Chapter 9 is wonderfully read by: Anna Bentinck Mali Harries Rory BarnettT.Anthony QuinnMalk Williams Ewan BaileyAndrew PepperMitch JenkinsChristina KowalchukArthur DarvillRichard WellsPhilip Banks Ian Pringle

    16 min
  5. Chapter 8: The Queen’s Croquet-Ground

    12/15/2022

    Chapter 8: The Queen’s Croquet-Ground

    At the garden entrance, Alice sees three gardeners painting some white roses red. Before they can finish, a royal procession begins filing in. Last to arrive are the most important: the King and Queen of Hearts and their court. All of these characters take the form of animated playing cards.  Furious at everyone and everything, the Queen of Hearts constantly orders beheadings. Fortunately, the Queen is distractible, and Alice—along with the Duchess—joins the croquet game everyone has come to play. The game is thoroughly confusing; no one is following the rules. Alice complains about this to the Cheshire Cat when its head shows up in the sky above her. The Queen orders that this head also be cut off, but the Cheshire Cat disappears before anyone can decide how to carry out the order.  Chapter 8 is wonderfully read by: Joshua ManningLaurel LefkowMark Desebrock Matthew WycliffeAngus ImrieAntonia BeamishKevin McNally Matt Beauman JonesAnnette RizzoCharlotte Sanderson Rachael BeresfordBen StockEmma StannardCharlie BruntonDuncan Smith Pearl Hewitt

    16 min
  6. Chapter 7: A Mad Tea-Party

    12/12/2022

    Chapter 7: A Mad Tea-Party

    In front of the Hatter's house, a long tea table is set under a tree. The March Hare, the Hatter, and a sleepy Dormouse are sitting at one end. They shout, "No room!"—but Alice indignantly sits down, and they have a conversation about meaning and time. The Dormouse tells Alice a story and then falls asleep at the table. Alice is so disgusted by the rudeness of the three that she leaves.  Alice reenters the long hall, takes up the golden key, and walks into the garden she's been waiting so long to visit.   Chapter 7 is wonderfully read by: Tania Rodrigues Chris Nelson Peter Kenny Katherine Fenton Jennifer Woodward Claire Morgan Ian Porter Gareth Pierce Jane Collingwood Siobbhan Shaw Emma Wheeler Amy Shindler Sarah Belcher Patrick Lamb

    17 min
  7. Chapter 6: Pig and Pepper

    12/07/2022

    Chapter 6: Pig and Pepper

    Alice reaches a strange house and hears terrible howling and screaming inside. She enters to find a kitchen, where the Cook is stirring a very peppery soup. In the middle of the room, the Duchess is holding (and occasionally shaking) a screaming baby boy, who is also sneezing nonstop because of the pepper. The Duchess hands the baby over to Alice, who takes him outside. Gradually, the baby turns into a pig, which Alice turns loose. She then spots the Cheshire Cat in a tree, who gives her directions to the Hatter's. When Alice remarks that she doesn't want to "go among mad people," the Cheshire Cat says, "We're all mad here."  Chapter 6 is wonderfully read by:  Harley ViveashEmerald O'HanrahanCharlotte Martin Susie RiddellSam DevereauxClare CorbettChristopher RaglandRachael Louise MillerAlex WingfieldKatie RedfordTimothy Bentinck MBEBen ElliotJenny Bryce Harriet KershawKate RawsonSteven Kynman

    18 min
  8. Chapter 5: Advice from a Caterpillar

    12/02/2022

    Chapter 5: Advice from a Caterpillar

    The Caterpillar stares at Alice before asking her who she is. They have a confusing and roundabout conversation. Before he crawls away, the Caterpillar tells Alice that eating one side of the mushroom will make her tall and eating the other will make her short. Alice tries a bit of mushroom edge and shrinks until her chin hits her foot. She tries a piece from the other side and grows until she's taller than the trees and has a long, snakelike neck.  The Pigeon begins flying frantically around Alice's head, accusing her of being a serpent hunting for bird eggs. Unable to persuade the Pigeon that she's a little girl, Alice takes alternating bites of the mushroom pieces until she's nine inches tall, seemingly the perfect height for Wonderland.  Chapter 5 is wonderfully read by: Beth Chalmers Ramesh Mahtani Michelle O'Callaghan Danielle Cohen Gyles Brandreth Raj Ghatak Samantha Boffin Tom Sterling Benet Brandreth Toby Laurence Kosha Engler Tara Ward Juliet Stevenson Clare Louise Connolly

    15 min
  9. Chapter 4: The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill

    11/27/2022

    Chapter 4: The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill

    As Alice sits alone in the hall, the White Rabbit passes again. This time he mistakes her for his housemaid, Mary Ann, and orders her to fetch him some gloves and a fan. Alice makes her way to the White Rabbit's house. In addition to the fan and gloves, she finds a little bottle whose contents she decides to try. Instantly, she starts growing until her body fills the entire house. The White Rabbit comes to his house in search of Mary Ann. Seeing Alice's huge arm sticking out of the window, he sends for help. A crowd of animals throw pebbles through the window, and the pebbles change into little cakes. Alice eats one to see if it will shrink her. It does, and tiny Alice runs out of the house. After escaping from a puppy, she spots a mushroom with the Caterpillar sitting on top. The Caterpillar is smoking a hookah.  Chapter 4 is wonderfully read by: Penelope Rawlins Elisa Canas Peter Noble Gina Mellotte Lorraine Cairney Robbie Stevens Simon Johns Gwen Watson Sarah-Jane Vincent Steve Jones a e Scanlon Gerard Carey Emma Davis Sarah Gain David Firth Stevie Cripps Susie Coleman

    16 min
  10. Chapter 3: A Caucus-Race and a long Tale

    11/20/2022

    Chapter 3: A Caucus-Race and a long Tale

    Alice, the Mouse, and several other animals climb out of the pool of tears. The Mouse tells a "dry" story to dry them off. When this doesn't work, the Dodo suggests they hold a "Caucus-race." This turns out to mean running in a circle for half an hour, after which the Dodo declares that everyone is the winner. Alice hands out prizes, and the Mouse tells another story—this one a "tale" that turns out, when written on the page, to be shaped like a mouse's tail. Naturally, Alice doesn't understand what's happening, and the Mouse leaves in a huff. The other animals soon follow, leaving Alice alone again.   Chapter 3 is wonderfully read by: Helen GoldwynStephen McCarthyAidan BellSean ConnollyBella Hamblin Ellie Rose Boswell Helen Lloyd Elizabeth Bower Ana Clements Michelle O'Callaghan Gay Soper Faye Dicker

    11 min
  11. Chapter 2: The Pool of Tears

    11/14/2022

    Chapter 2: The Pool of Tears

    Eating the magic cake makes Alice shoot up to nine feet tall. She can easily reach the golden key, but once again, she's far too big to get into the garden. She begins to cry with frustration, and her "gallons" of tears create a pool that's four inches deep. The White Rabbit rushes by and, terrified at the sight of giant Alice, drops his gloves and fan. Alice picks up the fan, which causes her to shrink until she almost disappears.  The key is out of reach again. Worse, Alice slips and falls into the pool of tears, which, now that she's tiny, reaches up to her chin. A mouse swims by. Alice tries to start a conversation but blunders by talking about what a good mouser her cat is. The Mouse offers to tell her its sad story on the "shore" of the pool. Alice notices that the pool of tears now contains several other strange animals. She swims to shore with the other creatures following.    Chapter 2 is wonderfully read by: Darren Altman Angela Ness Raphael Von Blumenthal Terry Molloy Tom Allenby George Naylor Katherine Weare Melissa Medina Angela Griffin Andrew Piper Lee Fomes Michael Palin

    13 min
  12. Chapter 1: Down the Rabbit-Hole

    09/21/2022

    Chapter 1: Down the Rabbit-Hole

    On a May afternoon in the English countryside, seven-year-old Alice is dozing on a riverbank when a large white rabbit races by. The rabbit checks a pocket watch and then disappears down a large hole with Alice in impetuous pursuit. The hole turns into an exceedingly deep tunnel. After a seemingly endless fall, Alice touches bottom and finds herself in a long, dark hallway lined with closed doors.  Alice finds a gold key on a table and uses it to open a little door, through which she spots a lovely garden. She longs to explore the garden but is too tall to get through the door. The contents of a bottle labelled "drink me" cause Alice to shrink until she's too short to reach the key on the table. Next, she finds a small cake labelled "eat me." She obeys the instruction and waits to see what will happen.   Chapter 1 is wonderfully read by: Brad Shaw (Also Chapter Heads and Ending) Hayley-Marie Axe Julie Love Sarah Borges Catherine Millsom Ellie Darvill Helen Suzanne Claudia Barba Brenda Longman Ferha Syed Alex Jennings Greg Marston

    14 min
  • 12 Episodes

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

My name is Brad Shaw. I’m a voice actor, presenter and entrepreneur. At the beginning of the first lockdown, I was diagnosed with stage 3 melanoma and was told that I would have to face a year of immunotherapy infusions. I decided that I’d engage with the voiceover community and create a project that we could all get involved with. The Wonderland Challenge was born. I split Alice in Wonderland up into 159 one minute chunks and offered it out to my colleagues. The idea was that you record a minute and donate something to the NHS. I was overwhelmed with the response. I started to get enquiries from celebrities such as Dame Harriet Walter and Michael Palin amongst others. I collected the clips and started to piece it all together.  To find out more about the project, follow this link. I will be releasing the book as a podcast, chapter by chapter until it is complete. EnjoyPS I have been in remission for 2 years now.

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