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Globe and Mail
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Globe and Mail
At Shaw, a confounding writing choice nearly ruins an otherwise passable trip to Narnia
Title: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Written by: Selma Dimitrijevic and Tim Carroll, adapted from the novel by C.S. Lewis Performed by: David Adams, Kristi Frank, Élodie Gillett, Alexandra Gratton, Jeff Irving, Dieter Lische-Parkes, Jade Repeta, Kiera Sangster, Michael Therriault, Kelly Wong, Shawn Wright Directed by: Selma Dimitrijevic Company: Shaw Festival Venue: Festival Theatre City: Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. Year: Until Oct. 4, 2025 The Shaw Festival's production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe isn't horrible. Some of it's quite fun. The production is well-paced, well-costumed and occasionally well-acted. But Selma Dimitrijevic and Tim Carroll's adaptation of C.S. Lewis's classic tale – which sees the iconic Aslan imagined for the stage not as a lion, but as a man – seems to miss the point of Lewis's source material, without adding much meaning to the story through its myriad creative liberties. When we meet Aslan (Kelly Wong), a severed feline head hangs from his decidedly human shoulder. The Pevensie children – Lucy (Alexandra Gratton), Susan (Kristi Frank), Peter (Jeff Irving) and Edmund (Dieter Lische-Parks) – are almost as surprised as we are that Aslan, guardian of Narnia, is just as mortal as the humans they left on the other side of their magic wardrobe. When they ask about the discrepancy between the lore and the truth, the answer is, well, disappointing: Aslan appears as people want to see him. That's a nice idea. But… surely the Pevensies want to see the creature as the lion they've been promised, no? So, too, must the patrons who purchased tickets to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – heck, it's in the title. The Witch, the Wardrobe and … a guy named Aslan? Inside the Shaw Festival's final voyage to Narnia It's a deeply strange choice not helped by the fact that the other creatures of Narnia are perfectly delightful animals – especially Mr. and Mrs. Beaver (Shawn Wright and Jade Repeta, respectively), dressed in whimsical furs by designer Judith Bowden. The beavers' dam is warm, cheery and folksy; the beasts' hokey demeanours, too. When the Pevensies join the rodents for supper, it's the closest this jumbled production gets to capturing the wonders of Lewis's wholly original world. (If there couldn't be a lion, I'm at least glad there could be beavers.) The rest of the show is a more mixed affair. When we meet the Pevensies, sent away to the countryside at the onset of the Second World War, they're leaning on each other for support in their dreary new home, and hiding from the likes of Professor Kirk (David Adams) and Mrs. Macready (Kiera Sangster). Of course, the real story starts when Lucy, the youngest Pevensie, stumbles across Narnia at the back of a coat closet, and tumbles into a world of kings, queens and permanent winter. Lions aside, Dimitrijevic and Carroll mostly preserve the beats of Lewis's story, including the White Witch's lethal weapon of Turkish delight and a gnarly battle sequence that tops off the Pevensies' ascendancies to the Narnian monarchy. But Dimitrijevic helms a superficial production that doesn't take advantage of the script's capacity for interesting directorial interpretation. Adams and Sangster are badly underused – I found myself wondering if imaginative doubling might have drawn sweet parallels between the Pevensies' disparate worlds – and the final battle, set to a backdrop of piercing strobe lights, is messy and under-choreographed. Performances, too, vary throughout the cast – Gratton is the strongest of the children, followed by Lische-Parks (who's also a standout in the festival's Anything Goes). Michael Therriault's Mr. Tumnus is just right, frenetic and friendly, but Dimitrijevic and Carroll's new scenes for the faun in Act Two don't add much to his overall arc. Wong does what he can as the titular not-lion, but the cards are stacked against him – there's only so much an actor can do to compensate for muddy writing. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe might be an OK choice for young children (though the high schoolers at the performance I saw, judging by their frequent guffaws and post-show zingers, might disagree). For the little ones, Élodie Gillett's White Witch isn't especially scary, and seriously – those beavers are nearly worth the price of admission themselves. Tiny kiddos new to the world of theatre will probably enjoy them. But on the whole, while this chronicle of Narnia isn't terrible – just blandly, forgettably fine – it's not one I'd recommend for ardent fans of C.S. Lewis. Or, you know, lions.
Irish Times
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe review: Narnia adaptation is a thrilling testament to the wonder of live theatre
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin ★★★★☆ Adam Peck's stage adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe makes key use of an anonymous minor animal character who appears only fleetingly in CS Lewis's book. Now named Schrödinger, for an adult audience's nod-and-wink pleasure, the professor's cat stalks the floorboards in front of the wardrobe, the portal through which the Pevensie siblings disappear into Narnia. The fluffy feline acts as a visual cue for the dissolution of borders between the parallel worlds, where linear time loses meaning. For the children, however, evacuees during the second World War, time has already been suspended. In Tom Paris's subtly symbolic design, a numberless dial hangs above the stage, the stilled clockwork mechanics of its interior mechanism just visible in the wings. [ How CS Lewis's Irish childhood influenced the Chronicles of Narnia Opens in new window ] This touring production from Michael Fentiman, based on Sally Cookson's original 2017 show, is deeply thoughtful in its approach to staging the classic children's book. Peck's script is as economic as Lewis's novel, moving along at a quick but never hurried pace set by a troupe of travelling musicians who add tone, atmosphere and a few musical numbers to proceedings. The compositions by Barnaby Race and Benji Bower have an English folk feel that complements the rustic setting of the Pevensies' rural exile, as well as the ritualistic nature of the battle being fought between good and evil. READ MORE The ensemble is fundamental to the execution of every memorable moment. The four leads – Joanna Adaran, Bunmi Osadolor, Jesse Dunbar and Kudzai Mangombe – are very strong, but they are supported throughout by a shape-shifting cast of minor characters, both animal and human. Styled by Paris with a creative DIY flair, they use billowing bed sheets, glowing globes and suitcases to evoke individual settings and transition between scenes, with Jack Knowles's shadowy lights and Shannelle Fergus's choreography helping Fentiman to maintain an impressive fluidity. The overall effect is a thrilling testament to the wonder of the live theatrical experience, suspending time on a warm May evening for the 100-minute performance. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre , Dublin, until Saturday, May 10th
