REVIEW | The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - Gillian Lynne Theatre

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★ ★ ★ ★ 

Review by Eliott Sheppard.

Against a raging war, the Pevensie children; Susan (Robyn Sinclair), Peter (Ammar Duffus), Edmund (Shaka Kalokoh), and Lucy (Delainey Hayles) are evacuated to the rural countryside to stay Professor Kirk (Johnson Willis). Of course, this is C.S Lewis' infamous story of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, a tale that captivated myself as a child, and I always remember coming home after school to read the tales of the siblings, and for short bursts of time, running away to the snowy mountains of Narnia with my imagination.

Currently on stage at The Gillian Lynne Theatre, this incarnation of the story, originally staged at The Bridge Theatre with direction from Sally Cookson, has been given new life with huge scale design from Tom Paris, that enchants your mind, plus redirection from Michael Fentiman. I really must commend this production for sticking with its tonally dark themes; Whilst the poster and marketing showcases a rather colourful Aslan in all its print, the truth is this staging is not for the fainthearted, and I personally thrived on this with viewing; I most certainly would be interested to hear from children how they responded to The White Witch's rather terrifying sidekick pack of wolves. 

As an audience, we are completely under her spell.

Speaking of The White Witch, Samantha Womack, only having recently returned to the production, commands the stage with such wickedness. As an audience, we are completely under her spell, and with the help of a rather peculiar steampunk-like contraption, can at times tower over the company with menace and beauty; Tom Paris has done the most incredible job in costume design with this, with Susanna Peretz also deserving of a mention for the Hair and Makeup design, giving Womack a glacial makeover that anyone will be in awe of. 

Narnia is not the world we know and love though without its protector, the mighty Aslan. Chris Jared embodies the snow-ridden lands saviour with stunning stator and defiance, and whilst we do have in tow a puppeteered version of our lion, I found Toby Olie's puppetry design here to be a little underwhelming, and in the way of Jared's otherwise godly figure. Facing off eachother, Womack and Jared are a true force of nature when they come face to face, even if for me the White Witch's demise is rather unsatisfactory. Personally, I think the production would have benefited with having the revolve in motion, showcasing the vast movement sequences, and giving us the final battle which seems so rushed and quick to resolve. 

Read:Interview with Chris Jared from The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

It's not just however the demise of characters where I think the production falls short. There's a lack of curiosity and magic when we first enter the snowy landscape, with not much difference separating the two worlds, apart from some special effects. Character development of the bickering male siblings, Peter and Edmund, is heavily subsidised from the original source material, where at times our protagonists are almost sidelined for Narnia's inhabitants, which whilst they are fun and bring joy with talented actor-muso's, I think should have been given more thought into the siblings dynamic. There's also the introduction of a festive character at the start of Act Two which personally was quite bewildering, but in hindsight is a rather nice plot point in how our four brave new found heroes receive their weaponry of power against the White Witch's raging war on the land.

Narnia will always for me be the place of escapism, and with the art of theatre being just that for so many people who love to sit in a dark room and be transported to another world, this staging at The Gillian Lynne can absolutely promise you that very belief, and so much more - there's magic in the making, and you are most certainly invited to join the Pevensie children through the wardrobe this festive season.

*AD - gifted tickets.

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe is playing at Gillian Lynne Theatre until 8 January 2023.