“I had to let that go right out of the gate,” says Toronto actor Tara Rosling, recalling the idea of playing 10-year-old Alice in the Shaw Festival production. “I said, ‘Peter [acclaimed director Peter Hinton], dude, I’m in my 40s. It doesn’t help that I’m filmed and projected at one point, when Alice is growing.… I have a four-foot face — that won’t sell me as a 10-year-old.’ ”

Rosling accepted the challenge as the lead in the tech-heavy production that has been more than three years in the making and is shaping up to be a huge part of Shaw’s season. But, with Hinton at the helm, the key is to expect the unexpected.

“Peter Hinton has never done anything in the conventional way,” says Rosling. “It’s not a traditional take on Alice. But it is very true to Lewis Carroll’s original story: The story of a young girl in a crazy world; her journey in encountering her own story; and her own odyssey — the right of passage.”

The production, which has been choreographed by the equally estimable Denise Clark, of One Yellow Rabbit performing ensemble fame, is actually the first commissioned by the festival to appear on the Festival Theatre stage.

“It’s an extraordinarily exciting process,” Rosling says. “I think we are all really awestruck by what’s being created.”

There are 100 costumes in the production, 19 songs and a stunning use of videography.

Alice in Wonderland runs until Oct. 16 at the Shaw Festival