Play Adaptation of C. S. Lewis Classic on National Tour

The Irish are fond of saying, "Better the devil you know than the devil you don't."

Perhaps author C. S. Lewis had this in mind when he penned his epistolary classic, "The Screwtape Letters," a series of philosophical missives written by a darkly charismatic elder demon, Screwtape, advising his untested protégé, Wormwood, on matters of temptation to lure "the patients," also known as mortals, down the path to hell, into the fiery embrace of "our father, below."

In 2007 "The Screwtape Letters" was adapted for the stage by Max McLean with the Fellowship for the Performing Arts, and the production is enjoying a national tour this year, being warmly received from Los Angeles to Atlanta.

"The embers [for Lewis' work] are burning brighter than ever. He has a huge following," says McLean, who portrays Screwtape in the production.

In addition to "The Screwtape Letters," Lewis is known to popular audiences for "The Chronicles of Narnia," which has been a highly successful film trilogy.

McLean says he drew on the book's vivid personalities and clever storyline to create costumes and a set design that give the show its uniquely cheeky flavor.

One never thought a trip to hell could be so amusing.

The show opens with Screwtape, in his capacity as "Undersecretary for the Department of Temptation," addressing "the graduation banquet at Tempters' Training College for Young Devils."

After giving his charges a pep talk on the rudiments of spiritual warfare and the task set before them, Screwtape retires to his private study, a cozy, smoke-filled nook in the depths of the inferno, to correspond with Wormwood.

McLean, whose character is joined onstage by his personal secretary, Toadpipe, portrayed expressively by Karen Eleanor Wight (although she has so speaking parts), wears a smoking jacket reminiscent of Hugh Hefner and leads the audience through his wicked thought process while penning his letters to Wormwood.

McLean explains that he relied on images from popular culture, such as Al Pacino's turn as a disguised devil in the film "The Devil's Advocate," to fashion his interpretation of Screwtape.

"I thought of a man of style and taste. He had to be charming and seductive, like Noel Coward," he says, referring to the English dandy playwright.

The set design is a stark one, with Screwtape and Toadpipe languishing in the study with only a chair, and a wall that appears to be made out of skulls.

McLean volunteers that the skulls were inspired by the Catacombs, and by the notion of the "the hunt for the soul."

The most inventive aspect of the set is a "mailbox," which lights up when a "field report" from Wormwood arrives.

Although McLean's turn elicits chuckles, he says that the theme is of eternal importance, even for the faithless.

"I think everybody has an idea of good and evil built in," he theorizes. "We all try to anthropomorphize good and evil."

He explains that in today's trying times of war and economic uncertainty, people are looking inward and can find a glimmer of truth through seeing the world through Screwtape's perversion.

"I hope this challenges the thought process."

 

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Comments

[annedyth]

07:21 PM on 08/27/2011

I've read the Screwtape letters' and the Books about Aslan and Narnia, plus a few others.
While not a Christian, I liked them all! But he really did a great retelling of the Cupid and Psyhe story
Which is called "Till We Have Faces'. I'd recommend that particular one, HIGHLY!

[Nigel Goodnow]

07:19 PM on 08/27/2011

Though I'm a big Lewis fan, I'll resist the urge to see this unless dragged there. I'm too afraid it would suffer from the Lord of the Rings Syndrome, ruining the experience by making it too concrete and subject to one man's interpretation. Case in point:"I thought of a man of style and taste". Though this is certainly a popular conception of the devil, and may have some element of truth, Lewis was always adamant that this was only a thin guise the devil wears at times. He had seen too much in the Somme to think this is really the nature of the devil. Lewis looks at this phenomenon in some depth in "Perelandra." In reality, "style and taste" are gifts of God and can only be aped by the devil who can't sustain the illusion for long.

[fjg]

11:43 PM on 08/28/2011

I was dragged kicking and screaming to see this play in '08...I left the theatre completely in awe at McLean's adaptation of Lewis' work. Your point is well-taken, but I don't think that you'll be disappointed after seeing this wonderful play.

By the way, I've come across some of your posts in the Religion section of HP...very interesting stuff...fanned.

[Nigel Goodnow]

12:58 AM on 08/29/2011

Thank you, I will consider it and probably scream less :-)

[thunk]

12:46 PM on 08/27/2011

I don't know. I read one CS Lewis book and it reminded me of reading Ayn Rand (ideology trumping relevance). Maybe I'm missing that gene that says "We all try to anthropomorphize good and evil.". I can't watch those movies either with the shallow one dimensional villain pitted against the savers of the world. I get it that's it's just a story, that everyone understands that we are all both villain and hero. But I resist it. I don't want to get in the habit of thinking of anyone as purely one or the other.

[Masih Ad-Dajjal]

01:23 PM on 08/27/2011

I read a few of his books especially his Christian apologetic ones and at first they held me firmly to my belief in Christ. But oddly enough the bibliography led me down a path that eventually showed me the untenability of it all.

I would like to thank C.S. Lewis in part for helping me see the errors of my ways even though it was his original intention to accomplish the opposite.

[Nigel Goodnow]

07:11 PM on 08/27/2011

"Ideology trumping relevance." My hunch is that Lewis would consider it a compliment. His biography and letters suggest that he was routinely surprised by his popularity during his life, and he would probably consider seeking relevance to be a fool's errand (ergo "everything not eternal is eternally out of date" in "The Four Loves").
Additionally, he would probably agree with your assessment of the shallowness of attempts to display anyone as completely evil (or good) at least in the human realm. When it comes to demons, however, In the prologue to Screwtape he goes out of his way to insist that these are only his speculations, and that an actual devil is probably both more complex and more evil than he could portray. One of my favorite works of his, though I enjoyed The Great Divorce as well (for a more heavenly portrayal).

[thunk]

12:56 PM on 08/28/2011

Relevance was the best word I could think of. I think I meant it even in relation to what is "eternal". When my ex-wife and I were still married our last shot at bed timing reading was the first Narnia book with her then two young children. We both had this sense that it was kind of off center and odd although we couldn't really explain why. And she is a practicing Catholic so it wasn't so much that it is a religious allegory per se or that the subject matter was "out of date" or not. I think it happens when the characterization is not really human (and I don't mean because the book has personified animals). You sense that "real people" would never act or think in this way. It's more like the characters have to fulfill the authors view of what moral motivation is about, like Ayn Rand.