Alice By Heart: Alfred/White Rabbit/March Hare

ALICE: Alfred!

ALFRED: Alice, I'm falling away. The stars are so bright, they hurt my eyes-

ALICE: That's the fever talking, not you. Let me read to you. I went back, I found our book. I'll bring you to our world again.

ALFRED: Our world. What world?

ALICE: Come with me. You can run there. You can breathe there. You'll be well again. Then they won't take you away. We'll have each other, always.

ALFRED: We'll start reading, I won't even reach The End

ALICE: Of course you will! All this- we can make it disappear.

YOUNG ALFRED: Oh my ears and whiskers. I'm late! So late!

YOUNG ALICE: White Rabbit! White Rabbit! Dear, dear. How queer everything is today!

ALFRED: I won't start what I can't finish.

ALICE: I know- since forever.

YOUNG ALFRED'S MOTHER: Alfred, time for supper!

ALICE: Even when you were six, staying well past dark, ignoring your mother's calls- you so had to finish it. Come there with me.

ALFRED: I've no time left- you understand?

ALICE:

(Singing)

A ROSE REMEMBERED

DRAWS US ONWARD-

ALICE & ALFRED:

(Singing)

A WORLD ADJOURNED,

WEST OF WORDS...

ALFRED: You go there, without me now.

ALICE: You can't... lose heart.

ALFRED: Oh really? After everything else we've lost? *cough

(Down the Hole)

ALICE: So there you are!

WHITE RABBIT: And there you are.

ALICE: I'm just so... pleased to see you. Here, that is.

WHITE RABBIT: So pleased to see you too.

In brief: I'm late. You know?

ALICE: Oh. I know. Sorry. Sorry. It's all been so...

WHITE RABBIT: Of course. Of course. Oh my ears and whiskers! I must go.

ALICE: No!

WHITE RABBIT: What?

ALICE: I don't know what. Honestly. It's... just...

WHITE RABBIT: What?

It's time- it's well past time- you know.

ALICE: But... here we are.

WHITE RABBIT: Yes- What? How long can we spend on this same page?

ALICE: One moment. Please.

WHITE RABBIT: And then? We stop, when it's the end. In the beginning, we begin.

ALICE: But surely, books are made to linger in.

Come, we'll find that tiny golden key and enter that loveliest garden...

WHITE RABBIT: The key is key, yes. But not yet.

ALICE: But why not? It's still the story. We're still here in the story.

WHITE RABBIT: No. If we're here in the story, we must be in the story. And so... if so, I better go. I mean, that is the story...

ALICE: is it?

WHITE RABBIT: Perhaps you ate a bit more marble cake today, and grew bigger?

ALICE: Is that so bad...?

WHITE RABBIT: The Queen will be just savage. If I've kept her waiting.

ALICE: But she doesn't even know you're here yet.

WHITE RABBIT: (Singing) STILL

ALICE & WHITE RABBIT:

(Singing)

STILL

(Song ends)

WHITE RABBIT: I believe I... leave you these?

ALICE:

(Singing)

CHILLIN' THE REGRETS...

(Song ends)

WHITE RABBIT: I believe you have my gloves...?

ALICE: I do?

WHITE RABBIT: You don't?

ALICE: I do. I must.

WHITE RABBIT: Me, I've been waiting for our scene. You know the bit-?

The page you skipped?

ALICE: I did?

WHITE RABBIT: "The Crash of Broken Glass"- the big "Alas"- when your hand is just so big, you knock down my entire house...? And, I call you "Mary Ann"...?

ALICE: And send me off to fetch your gloves and fan.

WHITE RABBIT: I'm frantic for them, actually.

ALICE: Of course. So sorry. Oh so sorry. Mary Ann- right. I suppose I...

CATERPILLAR: Got distracted?

Alice: Yes.

WHITE RABBIT: So, shall we?

ALICE: Now?

WHITE RABBIT: "Oh Mary Ann! Mary Ann! Fetch me my gloves, this instant."

ALICE: But, is that really why you've come? To fetch your gloves?

CATERPILLAR: And fan?

CATERPILLAR 2: As if you meant no more to him than random Mary Ann.

CATERPILLAR & CATERPILLAR 2: Oh Mary Ann...? Back a bit, where we began...

WHITE RABBIT: Where what began?

ALFRED: Time, time- I have so little time. Oh why did I come down at all? Is this what you know by heart?

ALICE: Perhaps I'm looking through a different looking glass. You followed me, now follow me.

WHITE RABBIT: No, follow me.

ALICE: Come, aren't we a bit too big for this? But this... Stops time, it does.

WHITE RABBIT: It does?

ALICE: To whom Time may concern it does. "Drink me." That is the scene.

WHITE RABBIT: You'll never find the key!

ALICE: "'Something interesting is sure to happen,' Alice said."

WHITE RABBIT: Oh my dear dear fur- and whiskers!

The Queen! The Queen! She'll have my head- you understand?

ALICE: She will?

WHITE RABBIT: As sure as ferrets are ferrets. Executed.

ALICE: Then, go.

WHITE RABBIT: I will.

ALICE: And so?

WHITE RABBIT: I am rather fearful of losing my head.

ALICE: I know.

WHITE RABBIT: You know how Her Majesty is.

How Loud she gets.

ALICE: "Alice climbed the massive tree as best she could, for her head kept getting entangled among the branches..."

Sorry- so sorry. I just...

Have you ever imagined yourself to be otherwise than what it might appear to others you might not otherwise have been- or appeared to them to be?

WHITE RABBIT: Exactly. Alice, look- the tree tops. Have you ever seen such tree tops?

ALICE: From the treetops.

WHITE RABBIT: Or such a lovely wandering cloud...

ALICE: Or such a golden waltz of gorgeous Lobsters.

WHITE RABBIT: Such such Lobsters...! I am finding myself oddly hungry.

ALICE: Not the Lobsters! I mean, I do so love the Lobster Dance.

CHESHIRE CAT: "Will you, won't you, will you, won't you..."

ALICE: "Won't you join the dance?"

WHITE RABBIT: But I'm not in that Dance.

CHESHIRE CAT: Not yet.

ALICE: Not yet.

WHITE RABBIT: You wouldn't want to, really- with these ears?

ALICE: The dearest ears.

WHITE RABBIT: I'm all paws.

(Those long eyes)

ALICE, WHITE RABBIT, & CHESHIRE CAT:

WALTZ AND WALTZ ALL NIGHT,

IGNORE THE TIDE,

IN THOSE LONG EYES...

WHITE RABBIT: Oh dear dear. So much- such a muchness still to finish.

ALICE: Just... please. One minute more, on this page.

WHITE RABBIT: This page?! What page?! We're not even on a page!

ALICE: We can change what's on the page.

WHITE RABBIT: No no. You can change. The page can't change. And, so.

ALICE: Please! No! One minute.

WHITE RABBIT: Oh we all know about minutes. How they start out, merely minutes- seeming minutes. Soon, each second, it's a minute, and the minutes run like seconds til they're hours- running, slipping- years and years- gone, gone, gone.

ALICE: But they're not. Not here, they're not.

WHITE RABBIT: Gone. Gone. I'M LATE, I'M LATE, I'M LATE!!!

ALICE: For what? Croquet? I'll come.

WHITE RABBIT: Stop. Please. This isn't just some silly game. I have no time left. Not for this.

ALICE: There's time. There will be time.

WHITE RABBIT: No. If you knew time as I do...

after flamingo, [bomb] ALICE: Alfred.

ALFRED: "'Hush! Hush!' said the Rabbit. 'The Queen will hear you!'"

ALICE: Calm yourself. You're skipping to the end.

ALFRED: "He sent them word I had not gone; We knew it to be true. If she should push the matter on, What would become of you?" What would become of you, Alice?

ALICE: I-I'll be Alice still, and chasing after you- my "Dear, oh dear!" White Rabbit.

ALFRED: No, I won't be here again. We must, must reach the end, before I end.

ALICE: Before the end? Stuff and nonsense! Alfred, catch your breath.

ALFRED: No. I have to put a period. The sentence has no meaning, if it does not end-

ALICE: It will. Again, again. We'll come here still.

ALFRED: You will. And for you to carry on, you must care less for me.

ALICE: Never. No.

ALFRED: Then I'll make that easier for you. "It broke his heart to hurt her so, and yet he had to do." I have to help you let me go: Now, follow me, I followed you.

MAD HATTER: Do we see that little tween down there?

DORMOUSE: My dear, what have you done to your hair?

ALICE: Dormouse! Don't be rude.

MARCH HARE: The don't offend us- with that hair.

ALICE: What are you doing? The White Rabbit isn't at the Mad Hatter's Tea.

WHITE RABBIT: But the March Hare is. And today he's me.

MARCH HARE: Sorry- no room.

MAD HATTER: One place on, please.

MARCH HARE: Did you hear how mean she was to Mary Ann?

MAD HATTER: She means: she means what she says.

MARCH HARE: It was mean what she said.

MAD HATTER: And did.

MARCH HARE: But then, that's how she is.

DORMOUSE: Hate how she is.

MAD HATTER: More tea?

MARCH HARE: One place on. And more tea, please.

MAD HATTER: So, now we all explore: The Girl Who Wanted More.

ALICE: But, I haven't had any yet. So, how could I take more?

MARCH HARE: No. How can you take less? You selfish brat, go taste regret.

WHITE RABBIT: Hate me yet?

ALICE: I never would or could.

WHITE RABBIT: You should.

MAD HATTER: So, shall we have a riddle?

ALICE: Yes.

MAD HATTER: Now, she wants a riddle.

MARCH HARE: That, and tea.

ALICE: You waste time by not spending it.

DORMOUSE: Dear. Dear. Me.

MARCH HARE: I dare say, you have never spoken to Time.

MAD HATTER: We, we've spent so many years with him, and you, you are just meeting him.

DORMOUSE: So, prithee: pass the scones.

MARCH HARE: Time for you to riddle yourself home.

MAD HATTER: Ahh, but I am no longer me. My mate, you know, was drop-dead funny. Then he dropped dead- isn't that funny?

MARCH HARE: Indeed.

DORMOUSE: Indeed.

MAD HATTER: Indeed.

DORMOUSE Indeed.

WHITE RABBIT: Hate me?

ALICE: No!

MAD HATTER: No tea??!!

MARCH HARE: She, and her incessant need.

MAD HATTER: For cream.

MARCH HARE: And sugar.

MAD HATTER: Ham.

MARCH HARE: Smoked ham.

MAD HATTER: And jam.

MARCH HARE: Cold jam.

DORMOUSE: And cheese.

MAD HATTER: Butter on her every sad sardine.

MARCH HARE: The next thing you know, she'll be demanding herbal tea.

ALICE: Alfred?! Alfred! You're here!

ALFRED: I had to- finish it. With you. We could not end like that. Come!

ALICE: No! I won't. I know what's next.

ALFRED: Then, please. The trial. We're late.

ALICE: I'm staying here. With you. In our garden of roses. There cannot be a Trial without me there.

ALFRED: Alice!

ALICE: I shall never turn this page. If we never move forward, I never have to leave you behind. We'll simply stop the story here.

ALFRED: I caaaan't. Perhaps we were never, really, meant to...

ALICE: Yes, we were. We are. We still can be. Forever. Here.

ALFRED *cough

ALICE: Alfred!!

ALFRED: Please!

ALICE: But, your roses...!

ALFRED: Yes. They are as roses are. As roses, here, must be. I've got to reach the end. Just this once more.

ALICE: I thought that when you knew a book, you had the chance to have it as you always want to have it in your head.

ALFRED: It doesn't always end as books would have it end. I'm a rabbit in a waist-coat, really. Running out of time in Wonderland.

ALICE: But how shall I be here without you, now?

ALFRED: That is the riddle.

ALICE: Take me with you.

ALFRED: Alice! No- you mustn't get too close.

ALICE: Drink me.

ALFRED: And lose you too?

ALICE: I'll be there. Always. With you.

ALFRED: They're calling me, not you.

ALICE: I hear them calling, too.

WHITE RABBIT: Silence in the Court!

ALICE: Don't! No!

WHITE RABBIT: All rise for the Queen.

KING OF HEARTS: Herald- Read the Accusations.

ALFRED/WHITE RABBIT: "The High Court of her Majesty Against the Heartless Alice."

ALICE: Heartless?

ALFRED/WHITE RABBIT: For two Treasonous Offenses: "Recklessly Rewriting the Tale to Suit Her Selfish Self.

"And: Breaking Rule 42"-

DUCHESS: "You have no right to grow here!"

QUEEN OF HEARTS: Item.

ALFRED/WHITE RABBIT: "Item: She went reading, then proclaimed she'd dreamed us."

QUEEN OF HEARTS: Pay attention when your Rabbit's reading. Item.

ALFRED/WHITE RABBIT: "Item. First she bragged she'd brought us here-"

QUEEN OF HEARTS: Louder!

ALFRED/WHITE RABBIT: "First she bragged she'd brought us-"

QUEEN OF HEARTS: Faster!

ALFRED/WHITE RABBIT: "First she bragged she'd-"

QUEEN OF HEARTS: Funnier!

ALFRED/WHITE RABBIT: "First she-"

CHESHIRE CAT: You're here. They make us all mad here.

QUEEN OF DIAMONDS: Oh dear.

MAD HATTER: You little tweeb.

QUEEN OF HEARTS: Guilty! Item!

ALFRED/WHITE RABBIT: "Item: She went chasing tail-"

ALICE: How can you bow to their madness? Why did you turn the page?

WHITE RABBIT: That is the story. Time to close the Book

(I've shrunk enough ends)

ALICE: You. Still here.

ALFRED: Somehow.

ALICE: Yes. So little left, and still you gave me that. You changed the page.

ALFRED: A parting gift.

"Don't let them know he loved her best,

For this must ever be

A secret kept from all the rest,

Between yourself and me."

ALICE: Yes.

ALFRED: I can't tell you what it's meant, to come here once again- to run here once again.

YOUNG ALFRED: I hope you will remember how it was...?

ALICE: (singing) RUN AND PLAY WITH ME STILL...

ALICE & YOUNG ALICE: ON THIS PAGE WITH ME STILL...

ALFRED: BUT TIME IS CHASIN' ME STILL...

ALFRED, ALICE, YOUNG ALICE & YOUNG ALFRED: STILL...

ALFRED: In the story, there's no moment of farewell, you know. And so.