Writer: CS Lewis
Original production: Sally Cookson
Music: Benji Bower
Director: Mike Fentiman
What a fabulous evening at the theatre! CS Lewis’s famous novel The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is transformed by Sally Cookson into a story full of song, music, and magic. Her 2017 production has been brought back to life by director Mike Fentiman and is touring with a new cast, much to the delight of the audience at Sunderland Empire last night.
The story of the Pevensie children’s wartime evacuation to a big old house – with a big old wardrobe – opens with a heartfelt rendition of We’ll Meet Again. Always moving, it held extra meaning for this Remembrance Day performance. We get to know the four siblings – moody Edmund, proud Peter, capable Susan and innocent Lucy – before their story begins. For they are to help lead Narnia, trapped in darkness for 100 years, to the light, with the help of gentle Mr Tumnus and that titular lion.
From the start, the imaginative staging impresses as the suitcases held by passengers thronging the station are flipped to become sets of train carriage lights steaming across the stage. The teamwork of the cast is clearly matched by the design, movement and choreography creatives behind such moments, marking the high production values of the show.
Seamless set transitions are conjured, such as when a vast voile curtain descends to Narnia’s empty landscape, to be twisted and lifted into a tent where cosy furniture has instantly appeared. Later on, people disappear and reappear with equal speed – or are unexpectedly hoisted into the heights.
Multiple live musicians roam the stage, taking on characters along with their instruments and singing in chorus to the music which permeates the action. The novel is both a good story and a religious allegory and the folky, resonant chords and gentle chants of Benji Bower’s songs chime on both counts.
The costumes add a Nordic feel to a base layer of wartime uniforms for most, while Katy Stephens’ menacing and regal White Witch boasts the most generous furs ever seen… until Aslan’s appearance. An enormous puppeteered lion is matched in gesture by Stanton Wright’s fur-coated human double.
The fight scenes feel dangerous, the monsters scary and the many gentle and kind characters are wonderful. None of the cast put a foot wrong, and often balletically place them in time to the music or use them to filmically speed away at exciting moments.
A scene reminiscent of Disney’s Fantasia sees greedy Edmund’s Turkish Delight become giant dancing neon squares, artfully puppeteered. Chris Fisher is responsible for the magic and illusions which pepper and spice up the plot, and choreographer Shanelle ‘Tali’ Fergus creates some characterful dance interludes, not least the one starring Santa Claus.
The brilliance of the first half is not quite matched by the second – blame Lewis’ moralising ending for that – but this is an early Christmas treat of an outing for all ages.
Runs until Saturday 15th November 2025
