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Shadowlands opens with the author C. S. Lewis, best known for The Chronicles of Narnia, wrestling with the question that underpins much of his work: why would an omnipotent, all-loving Christian God permit suffering and evil in the world? The play recounts the true story of how the celebrated children’s writer, Christian apologist and medieval scholar encountered both the rapture of love and the devastation of loss when, in middle age, he met the brilliant young American divorcee, Joy Davidman. For Lewis, still marked by the early death of his mother and constrained by the Church’s strictures against divorce, the relationship was at once emotionally perilous and theologically troubling. Yet what began as a meeting of minds deepened into a profound and transformative love, compelling him to confront fears he had long kept at bay. When Joy falls ill and later dies, his faith is tested in ways that render abstract arguments painfully immediate. The struggle to reconcile divine love with human anguish ceases to be philosophical speculation and becomes an intimate, shattering reality. Playwright William Nicholson has crafted a tender and searching love story about a man whose grief forces him to feel what he has previously only reasoned. The play also offers a thoughtful meditation on the interplay between the three Greek conceptions of love: agape, philia and eros, showing how each shapes and deepens the other. As Lewis, Hugh Bonneville gives a superb performance, revealing a man who might easily have seemed doctrinaire or priggish but instead is presented as vulnerable, wryly funny and quietly endearing. It is a portrayal of real subtlety and distinction. Opposite him, Maggie Siff makes Joy at once brash and blunt, yet incisive and tender. She avoids caricature to create a portrait of striking emotional truth. They are ably supported by a fine ensemble, including Jeff Rawle as Lewis’ steadfast brother Warnie and Timothy Watson as his sceptical colleague. These are richly drawn characters grappling with life’s largest questions of love, death and faith. The result is intelligent, deeply moving theatre, beautifully performed and assuredly staged. It does more than tell a story. It challenges the audience to confront its own uncertainties, perhaps discovering, as Lewis does, that love is both the wound and the cure.
Rated: ★★★★★
Reviewed by J.C.
Photo by Johan Persson
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