The Stage

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Published Tuesday 7 December 2010 at 13:29 by Anne Broom

Visually inventive and with spectacular effects, under Robert Miles’ direction this classic tale draws on its audiences’ imaginations to help re-create time and place. With the theatre complex transformed into a magical world and following pre-production workshops, young audiences are enchanted by this delightful production.

Caroline Horton (White Witch), Max Saunders (Edmund) and Catriona Martin (Mrs Beaver) in The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe at The Brewhouse Theatre and Arts Centre Photo: FarrowsCreative

It’s a magical Narnia of icy rocks, gentle snowflakes and snow-laden branches, a world held in winter’s grip without the hope of Christmas. Music, song, and dance choreographed by Louise Barrett push the story along, with action deployed throughout stage and auditorium.

Joanna Calderwood, Abby Leamon, Max Saunders-Singer and Daniel Slade (Lucy, Susan, Edmund and Peter) are believable as the young evacuees sent from forties London to a big country house owned by Daniel Copeland’s eccentric Professor, a creditable mix of authority and geniality.

Through the wardrobe the children encounter Catriona Martin’s warm-hearted Mrs Beaver, while with sleigh dramatically enveloped in pungent-smelling mist, Caroline Horton’s White Witch negotiates expanding stilts and complex costume with care. Seemingly lacking definition, icy make-up unfortunately masks eye and facial expression. Aaron Romano’s Aslan, a mellow-voiced, golden creature of leonine stance and pacing gait, is memorable, his death and resurrection bringing this enjoyable production to a joyful close.