THEATRE ROYAL PLYMOUTH

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RUNNING TIME – 2 HOURS 20 MINUTES (INCLUDING ONE INTERVAL)

 

5*****

 

22 FEBRUARY 2022

CORMAC RICHARDS

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In terms of imagination, C.S. Lewis’s was wonderful and weird and thrilling. It is no surprise that he was a good friend of the similarly creative J.R.R. Tolkein. Effective transference of their works has taken place on film and television but to see it come to life on stage is a very different process. The Leeds Playhouse production of ‘The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’ originally created and directed by Sally Cookson achieves more than you could ever have thought possible.

 

The original 1950 novel has been a favourite of children and adults for over 70 years (despite a rather muted reception on publication) and the fact that it can be enjoyed on so many levels underlies its popularity. The story of the Pevensie children, evacuated to a strange house during World War Two, transports the reader into the world of Narnia where good and evil vie for power amongst a population of animals and rather stranger creatures. The allegorical significance of much of the story is something which can be appreciated and debated with age, but for the young person, the adventure story is the thing.

 

From the train at the start, through to the wardrobe and lion, this is a production of ingenuity and flair. The multi-tasking cast work their collective socks off as they don numerous costumes, whilst playing musical instruments, acting, singing and dancing – it is a feast. Special effects – characters suddenly appearing and disappearing especially – are executed with aplomb as the audience is completely enveloped into Narnia.

 

As the four Pevensie heroes, Ammar Duffus, Shaka Falokoh, Robyn Sinclair and Karise Yansen are wonderful – totally believable as siblings. Johnson Willis imbues Professor Kirk with a mystery of his own – an all-knowing, seeing one and Jez Unwin is utterly delightful as the meek and kindly Mr Tumnus. Christina Tedders and Sam Buttery have enormous fun as Mr and Mrs Beaver and there is lovely puppet work from Oliver Grant as Schrodinger, the cat. Samantha Womack clearly relishes getting her teeth into the White Witch and her elevation at the end of Act One is spectacular. Aslan comes in two forms – as a splendidly realised puppet and as an actor in costume – I was unsure of the combination at first, but it grew on me.

 

Music is played throughout, cleverly evoking the folksy nature of the setting of the story with nods to Celtic rhythms and melodies. The songs are beautifully presented and the choreography is totally in keeping with the piece – again, with an eye on traditional dance.

 

Lighting and sound are absolutely first class and the set and the costume designs are full of the imagination that you want to see from an adaptation of this novel. Michael Fentiman directs with care, precision and a potent love for the source material.

 

While the first Act may be a little wordy at times and slightly outstay its welcome, Act Two, may suffer from the reverse in trying to pack too much into it – but these are small quibbles about a show which held the attention of a packed house – with very large number of entranced children – the silence from everyone at a pivotal moment near the end was deafening.

 

While the undertones of morality and Christianity are undeniably present, they are never preached but the audience are left with thoughts, such as, ‘the mind is like a parachute, it only works when it is open.’

 

This is superlative theatre – the imagination of the original author is put in front of the audience in the most wonderfully dynamic and absorbing fashion. Productions of anything don’t get much better than this.

 

 

CAST & CREATIVES

 

WHITE WITCH – SAMANTHA WOMACK

MAUGRIM – MICHAEL AHOMKA-LINDSAY

MARCH HARE – OLIVER BINGHAM

MR POPE – SCOTT BROOKS

MR BEAVER – SAM BUTTERY

MISS CHUTNEY – RACHEL DAWSON

PETER PEVENSIE – AMMAR DUFFUS

SCHRODINGER – OLIVER GRANT

MR MARSDEN – MATTHEW JAMES HINCHCLIFFE

ASLAN – CHRIS JARED

EDMUND PEVENSIE – SHAKA KALOKOH

MR GRANVILLE – SHAUN MCCOURT

MISS GUMLEY-WARMLEY – KATE PARR

SUSAN PEVENSIE – ROBYN SINCLAIR

MRS BEAVER – CHRISTINA TEDDERS

MR TUMNUS – JEX UNWIN

PROFESSOR KIRK – JOHNSON WILLIS

MRS PEVENSIE – GRACE WYLDE

LUCY PEVENSIE – KARISE YANSEN

ENSEMBLE – EMMA BARCLAY, TASH HOLWAY, CALUM MCELROY, SOPHIE NAGLIK, BRAD VEITCH

 

DIRECTOR – MICHAEL FENTIMAN

SET & COSTUME DESIGN – TOM PARIS

COMPOSITION – BENJI BOWER & BARNABY RACE

LIGHTING DESIGN – JACK KNOWLES

SOUND DESIGN – GARETH TUCKER & IAN DICKINSON

CHOREOGRAPHER – SHANNELLE ‘TALI’ FERGUS

MOVEMENT CONSULTANT – DAN CANHAM

PUPPETRY DIRECTOR – MAX HUMPHRIES

PUPPETRY DESIGNER – GWEN HALES

ILLUSIONS & MAGIC SUPERVISOR – CHRIS FISHER