{"id":894145,"date":"2026-06-26T13:00:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T13:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/894145\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T13:00:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T13:00:20","slug":"shakespeare-dallas-brings-queer-camp-to-alice-in-wonderland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/894145\/","title":{"rendered":"Shakespeare Dallas Brings Queer Camp to Alice in Wonderland"},"content":{"rendered":"

RICH LOPEZ | Staff writer<\/strong>
Rich@DallasVoice.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Shakespeare Dallas takes on the classic tale of Alice in Wonderland \u2014 but with a departure that stemmed from a happy accident.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s production, which opened last weekend, embraces a fresh perspective with a touch of queer camp. The vibes are giving some drag eleganza as David Helms (he\/him) serves up royal glam as the Queen of Hearts through July 17 at Samuell-Grand Amphitheater.<\/p>\n

The thing is? That was not the part he was going for.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was actually surprised to get the call, but it was a wonderful surprise,\u201d the 33-year-old actor said. \u201cI went for a callback, and they needed someone to read for the Queen. So I stepped in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mind you, Helms wasn\u2019t auditioning for the part \u2014 he was merely being helpful.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey seemed to enjoy it because they were laughing, and our director [Natalie Young] called and told me how, after I left the room, they were all like \u2018Are we going to do this?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThe role I was looking at was the Cheshire Cat, but when she offered the role [of Queen of Hearts], well, again, I was surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

All the more surprising is that Helms describes the role as the opposite of who he is in real life. Still, he said, the queen is iconic. At the time of this interview, he was still finding her within himself during rehearsals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew it would be way too much fun to portray her. I get to do what I can to give her as much life as possible, and it\u2019s been an interesting process,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Helms has researched previous versions of his character to put his own spin on her. That a man is cast in the role is a quirky tidbit, but it also offers Helms some creative decisions to properly put on the character.<\/p>\n

In short, he doesn\u2019t want to make her a caricature.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is this balance. I\u2019m finding influences from movie and Disney versions, but then I began to consider some of my good friends who have had an influence on me and how they have this effervescent strength that I find fascinating,\u201d he said. \u201cI started imbuing that into her with this idea that I want her to be that type that enters a room and turns heads.\u201d<\/p>\n

That being said, costuming wouldn\u2019t be your typical garb the Queen would wear.<\/p>\n

According to Helms, the creative team opted to veer away from grand gowns or big collars.<\/p>\n

To properly costume her, they had to tackle the idea of where this Queen landed on the gender spectrum.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough I am a male, I felt she should still be more female,\u201d Helms said. \u201cI don\u2019t want gestures or actions to come off as insensitive. I still have to play her with a certain honesty, so I am giving her a more female-presenting dynamic. But I think you\u2019re still seeing something different.\u201d<\/p>\n

The show\u2019s cast also includes Lily Gast as Alice and Tommy Stuart, Jeff Garlish, Jasonica Moore, Brandon Wetch, Liz Magallanes, Elizabeth Evans, Savannah Yasmine Elayyach, Kristin Lazarchick, Nicole Delarosa, Kalumbu Tshibangu, Omar Valdez Rocha and Sami Goldman in the ensemble.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And in another queer twist, real life husbands Matty Rafanelli and Logan Rafanelli play Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.<\/p>\n

Shakespeare Dallas just over here serving up its own dose of Pride this season! <\/p>\n

For tickets visit ShakespeareDallas.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RICH LOPEZ | Staff writerRich@DallasVoice.com Shakespeare Dallas takes on the classic tale of Alice in Wonderland \u2014 but…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":894146,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,1596,200633,358,15410,201984,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-894145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-america","tag-dallas","tag-featured-this-week","tag-texas","tag-theater-review","tag-theater-reviews","tag-tx","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116816539272097784","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=894145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/894146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=894145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=894145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=894145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}