The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe At The Lowry, Salford Review

Reviewed by Cath Joyce

I was first introduced to the magical land of Narnia when I was at primary school. My teacher read a chapter of C S Lewis’s most famous Narnia tale – The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe at the end of every school day and I was hooked. I still enjoy reading the Narnia stories and have shared my love of Narnia with my children. I was therefore very excited to be invited to the new stage show at The Lowry last night.

Walking into the theatre you couldn’t help but be impressed by the amazing set. Designed by Tom Paris, there was a huge clock face in the centre of the stage which was used to add an extra dimension to the show. The scenes with the White Witch were absolutely amazing and a real highlight of the show and so cleverly choreographed by Shannelle “Tali” Fergus. This is a magical show with a dark edge and whilst the stage is quite dark at times this is part of the attraction and really helps set the scene.

The story begins with the four Pevensie children – Peter (Ammar Duffus), Susan (Robyn Sinclair), Edmund (Shaka Kalokoh) and Lucy (Karise Yansen). The children are at the station, waiting for a train to take them to Scotland as they are being evacuated from wartime London. The choreography of the train scenes are fantastic and were a glimpse of the fantastic effects yet to come. Once the children reach Professor Kirk’s house they discover the wardrobe in a spare room in the house and the entrance to the magical land of Narnia – full of talking animals, mythical beasts and all doomed to eternal winter without the magic of Christmas, due to the evil White Witch’s curse.

Lucy is the first to discover Narnia and the first magical creature she meets is the lovely Mr Tumnus played by Jez Unwin. The bond between him and Lucy was really touching and just as I remember it in the book. Other characters we meet along the way are Mr and Mrs Beaver (Sam Buttery and Christina Tedders), a fantastic double act adding plenty of humour to the performance.

The White Witch is played by Samantha Womack.  She has an amazing costume which was used to spectacular effect at the end of the first half. For us she was the real star of the show. She played the manipulator incredibly well, enchanting poor Edmund with turkish delight and then turning nasty when he didn’t bring the other children to her as she asked him to.

I wasn’t sure how Aslan would be portrayed on stage but the amazing puppetry creation, designed by Max Humphries certainly exceeded all my expectations. Moving elegantly across the stage alongside Chris Jared (the voice of Aslan) you can almost believe it is a real lion prowling across the stage.

Rather than having a separate orchestra the cast members also play a plethora of instruments, they are very much part of the show and whilst we weren’t familiar with the songs in the performance, they really complemented the story. We especially enjoyed Father Christmas’s song when he met the children.

What an amazing festive delight this performance was, Narnia certainly hasn’t lost it’s magic and you are looking for a fabulous festive treat then this show is one you really must go and see this Christmas.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Tickets start from £15 plus transaction fee £2.50
The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe is at The Lowry, Salford from 8th December 2021 to 15th January 2022.
For more information or to book tickets visit https://thelowry.com/