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The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
When this adaptation of C. S. Lewis’s classic children’s story opened at the RSC Stratford in November 1998, it received rave reviews and broke box office records. Four children are evacuated from London during the Blitz. While exploring the Professor’s house, they stumble across the gateway to another world, and the adventure begins. The land of Narnia is under the spell of the wicked White Witch, and the four very quickly find themselves caught up in a deadly struggle between good and evil.
- GenresPlays
124 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 28, 2012
About the author
Adrian Mitchell
127 books12 followersAdrian Mitchell, FRSL, was an English poet, novelist and playwright. A former journalist, he became a noted figure on the British anti-authoritarian Left. For almost half a century he was the foremost poet of the country's anti-Bomb movement. The critic Kenneth Tynan called him the British Mayakovsky.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 4, 2023
cute but VERY BLAND. the dialogue was dry & unnatural & the stage directions are ambiguous yet highly ambitious and incredibly difficult to execute. my school has chosen this script for our school musical & i’m hoping we can bring some character & vibrancy to the fullness of the text itself. i have faith in the cast to transform it into something charming & playful & it’ll be fun a fun storyline to recreate.
and reviewing the script itself, it’s not entirely terrible. although i wasn't aware originally, the entire story being an extended metaphor for the christian faith makes a lot of sense, and i think it's sweet. i wish i had grown up with this series instead of having read it for the first time at 16. but it still has a comforting, nostalgic energy.
i’ll end by saying mrs macready is undeniably the best character.. (definitely not playing her in the musical or being biased)
and reviewing the script itself, it’s not entirely terrible. although i wasn't aware originally, the entire story being an extended metaphor for the christian faith makes a lot of sense, and i think it's sweet. i wish i had grown up with this series instead of having read it for the first time at 16. but it still has a comforting, nostalgic energy.
i’ll end by saying mrs macready is undeniably the best character.. (definitely not playing her in the musical or being biased)
June 10, 2020
A faithful attempt to dramatise CS Lewis's classic fantasy novel, presenting serious staging challenges, not the least of which are fauns, unicorns and giants on stage (not to mention a prominent lion).
It's all very well writing stage directions like these:
"ASLAN crouches down and SUSAN and LUCY climb on his back. Behind them the earth seems to fall away as they seem to go galloping down hill and through the forests" or
"[The giant] strides to the great gates and bangs them three times. The gates shatter and fall" or
"An army led by PETER and EDMUND is fighting desperately against an army led by the witch... There are some statues on the battlefield"
...but someone has to make them happen in real time - reliably, night after night - in front of a live audience. It can be done if you've got a massive stage and budget, but as these get smaller the job gets harder.
Some of the perfectly normal social attitudes of Lewis's day sit a bit awkwardly today, such as the final battle where the boys are soldiers and the girls are nurses. But otherwise it promises to be an entertaining piece of theatre for a family audience if you can rise to the staging challenges.
It's all very well writing stage directions like these:
"ASLAN crouches down and SUSAN and LUCY climb on his back. Behind them the earth seems to fall away as they seem to go galloping down hill and through the forests" or
"[The giant] strides to the great gates and bangs them three times. The gates shatter and fall" or
"An army led by PETER and EDMUND is fighting desperately against an army led by the witch... There are some statues on the battlefield"
...but someone has to make them happen in real time - reliably, night after night - in front of a live audience. It can be done if you've got a massive stage and budget, but as these get smaller the job gets harder.
Some of the perfectly normal social attitudes of Lewis's day sit a bit awkwardly today, such as the final battle where the boys are soldiers and the girls are nurses. But otherwise it promises to be an entertaining piece of theatre for a family audience if you can rise to the staging challenges.
December 25, 2023
Points for being very true to the OG work...but this does lend to some very dry dialogue. I do love some of the lines for the kids though, they're pretty funny. Not sure if that's intentional but it is appreciated.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews