The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe review – magical escape from the perils of war

Bridge theatre, LondonAslan is more substitute Churchill than surrogate Christ in Sally Cookson’s brilliantly inventive production of CS Lewis’s wartime fableThe popularity of CS Lewis’s 1950 novel rests on the fact that it has the many-sidedness of myth. The story of four children who stumble into the kingdom of Narnia, where it has been winter for a century, can be seen in multiple ways. In Sally Cookson’s brilliantly inventive production – first seen at Leeds Playhouse two years ago – it becomes about a family of evacuees confronting the perils of wartime.The point is made from the start, with the audience handed green identity labels, the onstage musicians playing a 1940s medley and a model train, bearing the evacuated Pevensie family, snaking its way through the countryside. But the wartime theme doesn’t stop there. The animals in Narnia sport camouflage gear, communicate through code – “Foxtrot to Badger” – and Aslan is not just a heroic lion but, in Wil Johnson’s fine performance, an inspirational leader. At one point, he announces “there will be blood, there will be tears” and he might have added sweat and toil, since he is more a substitute Churchill than a surrogate Christ. Continue reading…
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