The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe - Hereford Times Review

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe at The Courtyard

 

TAKING a classic tale like C.S.Lewis’s The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, and putting your own mark on it is a big ask, but Courtyard Youth Theatre director David Durant did just that last week with a production that hit all the right notes, catching both tone and atmosphere perfectly.

And a cast of almost 100 children, aged from four to 14, pulled out all the stops to deliver a well-paced and memorable show. A very clever minimal set created an authentic background for the Professor’s house, where Lucy, Edmund, Peter and Susan are sent to escape the Blitz, and where it’s not long before they discover another, altogether different world. As Lucy, a confident and convincing performance from Sophie Mokler, emerges from the jumble of fur coats in the wardrobe into the permanent winter of Narnia, the stage was brilliantly transformed by nothing more than the addition of the lamppost and a change of lighting.

It was a set that, in its simplicity, allowed nothing to detract from the performances - the opening night featured the Wardrobe cast of Joshua Smith as Aslan, Gabby Johnson as The White Witch, Isaac Florence as Peter, Ellie Bramhall as Susan and Ben Harrison as Edmund, with especially notable performances, not least for their singing, from Emma Lewis as a charismatic Mr Tumnus and Anais Benneville as Mrs Beaver.

We’d been promised that the youngest members of the company would provide the aaaah factor, and they certainly didn’t disappoint as they fluttered on stage as snowflakes and performed their charming dance.

But the triumph of this show, as always with Youth Theatre productions, doesn’t lie in individual performances, but in the energy and commitment of the whole cast, from youngest to oldest, as they all take their moment in the limelight to show friends, family and the wider public the results of months of hard work and dedication.

“Their energy and flair ... has enabled them to challenge themselves in creating realistic and sustained characters,” said director David Durant. He’s right to feel proud of his cast - this was a performance that drew scores of nine out of ten from two young members of the audience, Will and Jude - from leading characters to snowflakes and mice, everyone played their parts to perfection.