Narnia’s origin story, The Magician’s Nephew, proves apt seasonal programming for Belfast’s Sanctuary Theatre, a stone’s throw from where C S Lewis was born, in a production by Bright Umbrella marked with agreeably old-fashioned charm.
Director Patsy Montgomery-Hughes makes imaginative use of the repurposed church venue, playing on, off and below the stage, the set a moving forest bathed in colours evoking the sylvan backgrounds of Fragonard paintings and stygian woods of fairy tales.
There’s a rather dusty primness to Lewis’s recasting of Christian mores in the guise of a fantasy tale, one burdened by trappings of symbolic complexity that insist on getting in the way of storytelling. Though much performed, Glyn Robbins’s adaptation falls short of reconciling the two, rendering the whole Tolkien-lite.
Lewis’s clipped, postwar Home Counties accent is perfectly pitched by a five-strong cast that stays on the right side of starched tweeness. As the children cast into a magical world, Bernadette McKeating’s vivid Polly and Dylan Breen’s earnest Digory have a brisk, bright, well-mannered gusto that wouldn’t seem out of place in a vintage Disney film.
Fra Gunn’s scheming Uncle Andrew plays up to his villain role with panto relish, complete with an evil “mwah ha ha” cackle, Colette Lennon Dougal’s lofty Queen Jadis is suitably imperious, Elaine Duncan providing ardent support in minor roles.
It rather runs adrift—Robbins’s convoluted script largely the culprit—after the interval when the land of Narnia, populated by talking animals, not least the God-like Aslan, is conjured. The use of handheld voice-changers never quite works, proving neither satisfying or convincing.
More persuasive is Montgomery-Hughes’s use of well-chosen music to accent key moments, her accessible, family-friendly tone and fluid use of the space. Making much of slender resources, the uncredited set and lighting produce an attractive and suitably magical atmosphere.
Reviewer: Michael Quinn