Opening night at the Phoenix Theatre was flooded with dapper-looking, well-mannered couples, eagerly awaiting the theatre’s adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
The famous tale is an imaginative one about four siblings who discover a magical world, called Narnia, inside a wardrobe. The land of Narnia is under evil reign of a witch who casts a spell prolonging winter for hundreds of years, until the king lion, Aslan, returns to Narnia.
As I sat waiting for the play to begin, I noticed some amusing characters sprinkled throughout the crowd. To my right, writers and critics were jotting down notes about the play with their eyes darting back and forth like kit-cat-clocks, tilting their notepads in an attempt to protect their ideas. Behind me, someone was violently shaking their leg, repeatedly knocking the back of my seat; do they have a nervous tick, or are they that eager to get this show on the road?
As the play started, I began to realize that there was a cast of exactly two people.
Two people.
I wasn’t sure how the play could go on—five main characters, all to be played by two people? Preposterous! How could the story go on without Mr. Tumnus, Azlan, or the rest of the gang?
The two actors, Kaitlin Williams and Mack Gordon, adapted the novel in the form of storytelling. They encouraged the crowd to use their imagination and executed a meaningful performance, without ever rearranging the set or changing costumes.
Although at times the suspension of disbelief was a stretch, Williams and Gordon put on a great show and I would gladly see it again.
And judging by the “oohh”s and “aahh”s of the crowd and the nervous tick behind me that faded to a happy tap, it’s safe to say the rest of the audience enjoyed the play just as much as I did.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Until October 25, Phoenix Theatre
www.finearts.uvic.ca/theatre/phoenix/