THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE
For some reason, I know not why, I have never read this classic CS Lewis, I am certainly the right age for it to have been a popular book when I was the right age to have read it. Why mention this you may well ask, and I do so to make an important point. Last night I came to the theatre with virtually no knowledge of the story, yes I knew it was fantasy, that there were kids and a lion and of course a witch and a wardrobe. But beyond that nothing. I was coming to it fresh and with few preconceptions, and that in itself is exciting. But what I was about to see far exceeded any of those preconceptions.
Fantasy staged, well it’s a giant ask, train journeys, snowy landscapes, World War II parlours… well you could, if trapped by convention, be shifting an awful lot of scenery. But not here, the only really permanent element on the stage is an upright piano, which from the very start is played live, gentle war time popular music sets the scene. That’s it, apart from the occasional chair and table the whole takes place on a blank stage. It leaves director, choreographer, designer, lighting designer and cast to do the rest, and this they do with such skill and talent that you are transported from war torn Britain to Narnia with ease.
Next of course I need to say that this is a musical. I do enjoy musicals but only too often one comes out of a show with no memory of a tune. I came out of Wicked whistling the wallpaper!
This time I came out with tunes running through my ears, tunes I want to hear again and songs that had rightly earned their place in the telling of the story, not useless pieces of pop musical ephemera. Barnaby Race and Benji Bower have conjured up a score that conveys both the wit and the wisdom of the tale in a delightful manner, whimsical in moments and chilling when it needs to be. And so lovely to hear those Irish musical influences that remind us all that Lewis was indeed from Belfast.
And there are some chilling moments too, the White Witch doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to being evil and her weird dog like cohorts are truly scary.
In balance the array of woodland characters are so very charming, not cutesy by any means but for humans playing beavers and squirrels they are very believable and designer Tom Paris has created real magic. The same magic is applied to Aslan who in a dual incarnation of man and puppet has a really majestic presence on that stage, dignified in every sense.
The four children, wartime avacuees, are totally believable, Edmund, Susan, Lucy and Peter in period clothing are convincingly childlike without ever resorting to being childish.
So far I have mentioned few names, this stage is covered in talent, a large cast that not only manages to play multiple roles but many of them whilst playing multiple instruments. The actor/musician concept can sometimes go so very wrong but here it goes so very right, seamlessly, it feels natural that someone is wielding a double bass or a clarinet and at the same time executing a role and some exacting choreography.
And Shanelle ‘Tali’ Fergus has created a work of choreography that is an essential part of portraying both wartime Britain and Narnia. This is equally matched by Jack Knowles’ lighting, Tom Marshall’s sound design and Max Humphries puppet design. The creative team behind this enormous endeavour is huge, too many to name all, but all deserving of mention.
The same goes for the cast, again huge in number and again all deserving of mention so do forgive me for praising collectively, there is not a weak link in this magnificent show!
It would however be remiss of me not to name director Michael Fentiman and Sally Cookson who directed the original production. Sensational work in envisioning this magical world and story with such clarity and lack of clutter, for creating, with a talented team both on and off stage, such an exciting piece of theatre and finally, at my advancing years, introducing me to the book.
Andrew Kay
11 March
Theatre Royal Brighton
Rating:
