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C.S. Lewis On Stage
Adapted by Tom Key
Directed by Tim Gregory
Produced by Provision Theatre
At the Royal George Gallery Space
1641 N. Halsted
Chicago, IL
Call 312-988-9000, tickets $21, $18 students, $10 industry
Wednesdays at 2 pm
Fridays at 8 pm
Saturdays at 5 & 8 pm
Sundays at 3 pm
Running time is 1 hour, 30 minutes with intermission
Begins again on January 4, 2008 for a limited open run
C. S. Lewis comes alive through Bradley Armacost
With a set strapped with wall-to-wall books, a writing desk and an easy chair (set designed by John Zuiker), the Oxford don and novelist/poet C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) comes alive in the hands of Bradley Armacost--one of the finest character actors in Chicago. Armacost gives a spirited performance as the charming, sincere and quirky British Professor and best selling novelist. Tom Key adapted the one man show from the writings of the famed educator/writer best know for “The Screwtape Letters,” “The Four Loves” and “Mere Christianity,” which argues logically for the existence of God and the truth of Christianity and was published from lectures he gave on BBC radio during World War II.
C.S. Lewis On Stage is an intimate look at the Oxford man who could make his audience think as deeply as he made them laugh. Armacost combines charm, wit and disarming self-deprecating humor to paint a portrait of an Irish born, British bred intellectual who early on became an atheist but later converted to Christianity. Lewis is regarded by many as one of the most influential Christian apologist of his time.
Brad Armacost delivers a complex and charmingly winning performance of the intellectual Lewis. I was impressed at the command and the complexity of the material that had Armacost moving from being Lewis to acting out several parts of Lewis’ poems and/or characters from his writings. We become engrossed with his reenactment of those moralistic writing. We see the young skeptic emerge as an intellectual tainted by the horrors of the trenches of World War I. Eventually he converted to Christianity and he wrote extensively on topics such as: "How could a good God allow pain to exist in the world?" He also used the devil and images of hell to explain the merits of faith and religion.
Brad Armacost’s tour de force performance as C.S. Lewis is a joy to behold. He gives a master lesson in acting as he both entertains and presents the philosophy of a unique man who positively affected both students and readers worldwide. Lewis fans will rejoice in Amacost’s performance.
Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: November 21, 2007
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