I READ in the programme for the excellent production of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe at London’s Bridge Theatre that C. S. Lewis’s novel has been translated into almost 50 languages and sold more than 100 million copies. The figures are staggering, especially when you consider that Lewis, when he wrote the book in 1950, was a bachelor Oxford don. How did he create a seemingly timeless story with a global popularity?
Watching Sally Cookson’s brilliantly inventive version, first seen at Leeds Playhouse in 2017,it struck me that Lewis’s book has the endless adaptability of myth. It can be seen as a Christian parable, an endorsement of monarchy, a fable about seasonal change. It may even be all those things simultaneously, but in this dramatisation, with Adam Peck credited as ‘writer in the room’, it’s also a study of wartime evacuation with the four Pevensie children pitched into a world that’s both perilous and exciting. The company has seized on this idea by issuing the audience with green identity labels, having an onstage band play wartime standards and showing Operation Pied Piper, the code name for the initial evacuation in 1939, in full flow. Even when the Pevensie four go through a wardrobe to enter the kingdom of Narnia, we are reminded that the Second World War is never far away.
Denne historien er fra December 04, 2019-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra December 04, 2019-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery
