Last night we watched ‘Wonderland Calls’, presented by FABBA, a wonderful theatre company for adults with learning disabilities. An appreciative audience thoroughly enjoyed the singing, dancing, drama and great entertainment.
The King of Hearts has been murdered. A grown-up Alice, now a detective, returns to Wonderland solve the crime.. The White Rabbit’s still late, the Mad Hatter’s still bonkers, and the Queen of Hearts still yells ‘Off with their heads!’
Helped by Caterpillar, Alice examines the clues. The Gardener, the Cook and the Cheshire Cat are the suspects. They’re on trial…
The King once alive is now dead; a detective works out who killed him, how and why they did it… It’s a standard detective format… Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple… Kojak, Columbo… Morse, Vera…
This morning I read of Jesus’ encounter with a widow. Having already lost her husband, she’s now in a funeral procession, walking beside her son’s coffin. Jesus approaches, touches the coffin, and says, ‘Young man, get up.’ The dead man sits up, talks, and joins his mother. The crowd responds with awe. In our imagination we join the crowd…
The detective sees the once living, now dead and asks who, how, why? We see the once dead, now alive and ask who, how, why?
As I get older I think more about death and life after death … friends who’ve ‘passed on’ – once dead, now alive? And when my turn comes… I ask who, how, why?
Last night, in ‘Wonderland Calls’ the judge, a dodo, conducted the trial. Alice and the Caterpillar questioned the suspects. The audience waited for the verdict. The mystery will be solved…
The Caterpillar turns to the audience and says ‘You decide where truth lies… who committed the murder.’ We decided it was the Cook…
Musing on Heaven’s Wonderland I recognise the ‘you decide’ responsibility. Some friends think it’s a Lewis Carroll fantasy, others a good Sherlock Holmes story. I confirm my decision to believe with increasing certainty in Heaven’s Wonderland. For me ‘Wonderland Calls’.
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