Enchanting ‘Prince Caspian’ at Shaw Festival likely to stir fond memories of the Narnia books

Prince Caspian

Adapted for the stage by Damien Atkins based on the novel by C.S. Lewis. At the Royal George Theatre, 85 Queen St., Niagara-on-the-Lake, through Oct. 8. Shawfest.com or 1-800-511-7429

For the third time, the Shaw Festival is bringing the beloved world of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia novels to life onstage. This world premiere adaptation of “Prince Caspian” by playwright/actor Damien Atkins follows “The Magician’s Nephew” in 2018 and “The Horse and his Boy” in 2019.

Unlike those previous productions in the vast Festival Theatre, Molly Atkinson stages “Prince Caspian” in the more intimate Royal George. While the action at the sides of the stage sometimes feels cramped, overall the production does impressive work in telling a cinematic-scale story live and in real time.

Alessandro Juliani’s original music and soundscape is an important component here along with Atkinson’s direction and Jareth Li’s lighting in helping scenes flow into each other with pace and elegance.

Cory Sincennes’ sumptuous costumes were inspired by Westeros, a key imagined location of “Game of Thrones,” and indeed the physical staging here evokes that medieval fantasy world.

What makes Atkins’ retelling of this story feel of our time is the central focus on the animate nature of the natural world, particularly trees. There’s a delightful surprise in store for audiences who attend the production with school groups, who engage in preshow workshops to prepare them for participatory moments in which they help turn trees into active agents in the storytelling.

The plot, for those like me whose memories of the Narnia books are fond but distant: it’s one year, in Earth time, since the four Pevensie siblings returned from the Narnia of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” where they matured into adults and ruled the kingdom under the ultimate leadership of Aslan the lion.

They’ve gone back to their lives as older children in England and, as this story begins, they’re transported again to Narnia because the kingdom is in crisis. The evil Miraz (Sanjay Talwar) has killed his brother and usurped leadership from his nephew Caspian (Michael Man), and the Pevensies become leaders in a campaign to get Caspian back on the throne.

While that political/miliary story to some extent drives the narrative, in this telling it almost feels like a B-plot compared to the stories of the four human children and the delightful creatures who join them in their quest: the dwarf Trumpkin (Shane Carty), the loyal badger Trufflehunter (Patty Jamieson), a couple of dopey Bulgy Bears (Qasim Khan and Jade Repeta), and the valiant mouse Reepicheep (Repeta), amongst others.

A number of the actors make very quick changes to play multiple roles as the more-than-human denizens of Narnia: Khan, for example, exits the stage one moment as a Bulgy Bear only to reappear seeming seconds later as the glorious Centaur Glenstorm, and later — in scenes staged with stirring reverence — as Aslan himself.

About half of the audience at the performance I attended were school groups, some as old as 11th and 12th graders, and their attentiveness as well as gasps at the appearance of Glenstorm and Aslan reflected considerable buy-in to the story. This added to the enchanting nature of the production for me.

The play begins with a monologue delivered by Fiona Byrne about the capacity of storytelling to transport us, which segues elegantly into a land acknowledgment and then into the story itself, in which she plays the half-dwarf, half-human Doctor Cornelius. Through this expert writing, Atkins makes subtle references to current concerns about Indigenous/settler relations and the environment, and Byrne’s warm conviction as she delivers the material does much to set a mood of quiet wonder.

Kyle Blair brings similar gravitas to that of Byrne as Peter, the eldest Pevensie sibling, who reassumes his leadership role as high king of Narnia as the story goes on and gets to engage in some thrilling swordplay with Talwar’s convincingly nefarious Miraz (fight direction by John Stead). Marla McLean and Andrew Lawrie do lovely work as the middle siblings, kind Susan and sparky Edmund, and festival newcomer Kiana Woo is a standout as the youngest, Lucy, who is rewarded for her deep belief in Aslan even as others falter.

Honouring the nationality of the central human characters, the performers all use British accents, some of them flipping back and forth expertly between different well-chosen accents for different characters.

The charm and wonder of this production is likely to bring back fond memories for those who know the Narnia books and entice a new generation of readers to pick them up.

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