20 Dec 2023
Deborah Heath takes a trip to Narnia for the Company of Ten’s Christmas production…
The annual family Christmas show from Company of Ten is always something I look forward to. With their ability to assemble a great cast of adults and children, reputation for fantastic scenery and knack of choosing the right classic story for theatrical realisation, Company of Ten always have the recipe for a winter warmer.
The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis is an endlessly popular story which is why it has been adapted so often for stage, screen and radio. It is hard sometimes to let go of what you consider to be the classic version.
For me this was the 1989 BBC adaptation, for most of the children in the audience it was likely to be the more recent film. There are so many ways of representing the characters in this story, especially the animal ones.
To me, Mr and Mrs Beaver will always hail from the West Country but I loved Laurence Ward and Paula Jeffs’ Cockney interpretation in this show and was pleased to be proved wrong! All you need to “believe” a new interpretation is a strong acting and directorial vision.
The big question I always ponder before seeing an adaptation of this story is “But how will they portray Aslan?” I have seen it all over the years from a human Aslan to a massive puppet version operated by four actors. I knew that Company of Ten would push the boat out somehow and was intrigued.
But let’s start at the beginning. There were a few little technical hitches and a false start but everything was quickly resolved and with the audience fully on side. We opened with a slide show montage depicting evacuees which established the tone and the story well. Given Company of Ten’s reputation for outstanding scenery I must confess to being a little disappointed that there wasn’t more of it but I quite understand why director Katherine Barry took this minimal approach for a multi-location play.
Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy entered from the back of the auditorium which was a great touch as it made us feel more involved in the action. There were a few rotating youth casts for this show and on this occasion the roles were played by Henry Gaskin, Anna Foster, Milo Sydenham and Kitty Baird.
I cannot praise this young cast enough – on a technical level all projected their voices well and from an interpretative point of view, their sense of character was extremely well-established.
The story hangs on these four and we need to be able to root for them or in the case of sly Edmund, understand his plight and all of them achieved this with aplomb. I hope to see them all in future productions.
An unexpected aspect of the script (written by Glyn Robbins) was to portray the beginning of the Narnia story from the wartime side of the wardrobe. Lucy and Edmund disappeared in then came out later without the audience seeing Narnia at all. It was not until a bit later when Peter and Susan joined them that the new world opened up, the lamppost descended and the snow started to fall.
The downside to this method of story-telling was that it felt a little bit frustrating at the start but actually after half an hour I realised it was a masterstroke because it meant that the Narnia story itself was entirely uninterrupted. It also meant that you could really understand Peter, Susan and initially Edmund’s bewilderment when Lucy presented them with such an unlikely tale.
The young cast of four were supported with some superb character actors from the Company of Ten ranks, some playing multiple roles.
I have already praised the Beavers but they weren’t alone. I loved Jill Priest’s White Witch who was beautifully frightening. Paul Manuel played the Professor with wisdom and bonhomie. Maugrim, Head of the Secret Police played a smaller role with immense power showing a convincing physicality. Anna Barrett’s Wolf and Leopard were well executed and I especially enjoyed her comic fight scene.
I have mentioned everyone but Aslan, who doesn’t make an appearance until about halfway through the play. Katherine Barry explained that she “didn’t want to use a human actor” and made the admirably brave decision to portray an animated version of Aslan on the back screen. The screen had already been established as a functioning part of the story telling which was an important move for this approach to work and yet I’m afraid that I couldn’t quite engage with it. This is no reflection at all on the quality of the animation or the admirable vision and pluck of the director, it’s simply that everyone has their own idea of Aslan and for me it didn’t create enough power.
By the same token I have no doubt that it worked brilliantly for many members of the audience. I must praise the cast who did a superb job of acting with the animation – this is a difficult skill to master.
All in all, you can expect a lovely heartwarming Christmas show from Company of Ten this year with strong acting throughout and a good adaptation of a well-loved story. The show is running until 28th December so why not book a Christmas treat for your family.
