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.
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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.
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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
