A magical new production of Alice in Wonderland is giving the children’s classic a lavish new lease of life this Christmas as the New Vic celebrates a landmark anniversary.

Adapted for the stage and directed by New Vic Artistic Director Theresa Heskins to mark the award-winning theatre-in-the-round’s 25th anniversary, the spectacular show is brimming with theatrical trickery and illusions galore.

Join Alice as she journeys through a strange and enchanted world. Meet the White Rabbit, take tea with the Mad Hatter, search for the Cheshire Cat and hide from a very bad tempered queen in a world which just gets ‘curiouser and curiouser’!

Promising that this year’s New Vic Christmas production will be ‘something very special’, Heskins said: “I don’t think I have ever worked with such a talented cast – I don’t think we have ever put on something which is quite so full of exciting things on the stage, every minute there is something to look at.

“It is something which is suitable for adults too, it is something that you don’t need to have children to go and enjoy – it is a lavish and entertaining show and the theatrical trickery in it is so exciting.”

The show follows two record-breaking Christmases at the New Vic after last year’s Peter Pan and 2009’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, both of which went down a storm with audiences and critics alike.

Heskins said: “For the last couple of years our Christmas productions have been described as being some of the best in the country.

“I have been asked for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe script from the likes of Los Angeles, Singapore and Canada, as well as Chichester and Somerset over here.

“Across the world people are talking about the Christmas shows we do here at the New Vic.”

A cast of 12 features New Vic favourite Michael Hugo as the Mad Hatter, Hannah Edwards as Alice, Charlotte Palmer as the White Queen and Devon Black as the Red Queen.

The creative team includes the talents of award-winning television and film composer James Atherton, TMA Award-winning Daniella Beattie (Best Lighting Design 2009) and director and dramatist Theresa Heskins.

Alice in Wonderland runs from Saturday 19 November to Saturday 21 January. Tickets, which cost £11.50 – £19.50 (family-of-four ticket £58), can be booked by calling the New Vic’s Box Office on 01782 717962 or online.