If you ask children – and adults – whether they know any of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia stories, the answer will often be “Yes”. But, in a world soaked in the magical tales of Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and others, their knowledge of Narnia may begin and end with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Which is a shame, because they’re missing things like this:
The Lion was pacing to and fro about that empty land and singing his new song. It was softer and more lilting than the song by which he had called up the stars and the sun; a gentle rippling music. And as he walked and sang the valley grew green with grass. It spread out from the Lion like a pool...
The above is part of Narnia’s creation story in The Magician’s Nephew – the final book of C.S Lewis’s series, but first in terms of his world’s chronology. And in these school holidays a stage version written by Aurand Harris will be performed in Sydney’s inner west by Joining The Dots Theatre.
Director Amy Jamieson knows that, for the core primary-aged audience “and their grown-ups”, this may be the first time they have ever encountered the story.
“I didn’t read [The Magician’s Nephew] as a kid,” she says. “I only read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and I think that’s a common experience. But I got into them all in lockdown with my boys... we put on the audiobook and that’s when we fell in love with the whole series. So, it was really my own children and their enthusiasm for it – and me listening to the audiobooks with them – where I really fell in love with all the Narnia books.”
Jamieson, who goes to Jannali Anglican with her family, particularly loves the creation scene in The Magician’s Nephew, describing it as “such a beautiful portrayal of perfection in nature, the way that the world was first established and meant to be. If things like that could open up conversations about creation and its purpose that would be fantastic”.
If things like that could open up conversations about creation and its purpose that would be fantastic...
Those who know anything about Narnia would be aware there are magical happenings on a regular basis, and the ultimate ruler is Aslan – a talking lion who allegorically represents Jesus.
The Magician’s Nephew begins in late Victorian London and follows children Digory and Polly on a journey through different worlds, including a “wood between worlds”, that can only be accessed with rings made by Digory’s Uncle Andrew (the magician of the title).
It’s in this book that we discover the backstory of the White Witch, how the lamp post appeared in Narnia, and how an otherwise plain wardrobe came to be magical. There’s danger, sickness, temptation, forgiveness and facing up to one’s wrongs... so there’s a lot to cover, and show, a live audience.
“This is a novel presented in the space of about an hour onstage, but we still want to be true to Lewis’s message,” Jamieson says. “We will also have our characters moving through time and space – they do ‘fly’ through different worlds to get to places, and that’s the power of live theatre.”
hopefully it will come across as being a comfort to those who see it.
Two of the performances will be slightly altered to accommodate children with sensory needs. Modifications will be made to sound levels and lighting (with visual cues given prior to loud noises such as Aslan’s roar), and options to access the foyer or have an empty seat beside a child if necessary.
For Jamieson the most important element of the story is trust in Aslan: “A childlike trust that he is good and he is powerful and he can overcome evil. And that is very comforting to the characters – to Digory and Polly – and hopefully it will come across as being a comfort to those who see it.
“Some people will not make the [gospel] connection... but I would love them to have an engaging and almost magical experience of the theatre itself, come away wanting to engage in the Narnia stories with their parents or grandparents or whoever brings them along, and letting God do the rest.”
The Magician’s Nephew will be at the Greek Theatre in Marrickville from October 2-12. See [url=https://joiningthedotstheatre.com.au ]https://joiningthedotstheatre.com.au [/url];
