Denial – Circus
Characters
- Alice
- The White Rabbit
- Shadow Alice
- The Cruel Black Dragon (Jabberwocky)
Alchemy and Planets
- Silver (represented by snow) -☽-
- Moon -☾-
Theme
- Falling down
- Denial
- Emotion / mother
- The Nigredo
Concept
Denial is the first stage of PTSD Alice encounters upon her return to Wonderland. It hints at the shattered reality of Wonderland - islands floating in the sky, broken toys and teapots - but Denial paints the scene with such lovely light, color, music, and sound that we’re briefly lulled into believing everything is alright.
Alice follows the White Rabbit from the asylum into Wonderland and arrives in this place.
Rabbit is kept as a constant companion, sometimes running ahead of Alice to guide the way, other times jumping into Alice’s arms for a ride. He delivers dialog and provides for Alice a companion to talk to (rarely to talk with). Rabbit is Alice’s curiosity projecting itself forward into the unknown. Alice expresses her fear and wonderment to Rabbit throughout the journey.
Cheshire Cat appears from a darker place within Alice’s mind. He knows just how fucked up things are but is characteristically oblique. “The best lessons are learned the hard way.” He derides Alice’s relationship with Rabbit - not only because Rabbit seems to lack a brain but also because “Rabbits are fine to ruminate and stew but one in your belly will take you further than a lucky paw.”Rabbit leads Alice to a beautiful scene - and there, in the distance, is that Lizzie? And, the centaur again.
Alice’s goal at this point is a mirage or a fool’s errand - rearranging the deck chairs while the ship sinks; making the bed while the house burns. “If only we could find a snowball we could make a snowman,” says Lizzie (is that really Lizzy?) waving Alice forward into Denial - Alice’s mind reaching back to the last known happy memory; humming the same song her mother sang to her in bed that night. Heartbreaking because we know it’s a all a lie. She finds the (Silver - Denial) snowball but it’s so incongruous (even for Wonderland) that the world shatters. Alice hasn’t been following Lizzie at all - she’s been following her Shadow Self and Shadow Alice has a rude shock in store…
The Jabberwocky is released from its cave and lays waste to the illusion. Denial is blown apart and we see the true nature of Wonderland in its current state. A wasteland of destruction - entire kingdoms blown into orbit around a central “sun” of Chaos.
