Theatre
Review
Review: Shadowlands
Hugh Bonneville and Maggie Siff are electric as C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman in Shadowlands at London's Aldwych Theatre
Why does God let bad things happen? wonders every person of every faith – and alongside them, C.S. Lewis in 1950s Oxford. When we first meet Hugh Bonneville’s Lewis, lecturing us onstage at the Aldwych Theatre, he is assured; a theological logistician who doesn’t profess to have the answers exactly but certainly has what he believes to be some convincing theories. By the time William Nicholson’s Shadowlands reaches its conclusion, Lewis will be a wiser, more experienced lecturer – and a more doubtful, disquiet man.
First presented in 1989 and later adapted for screen, Nicholson’s play was handled deftly by director Rachel Kavanaugh when it was produced for the Chichester Festival Theatre in 2019. Now that same production arrives in London, and Kavanaugh’s direction still shines. The self-important speeches made by Lewis and his colleagues would likely have read archaic in the late 80s – by 2025, they are grimace-worthy in places, but Kavanaugh doesn’t shy away from them. Lewis is a product of his era, but as in every good period piece, what lands is the universality of his experience – a man learning that grief and love are two sides of the same coin, but better both than neither.
Shadowlands is based on the true story of the marriage between 58-year-old children’s author C.S. Lewis and 41-year-old American poet – retired, she protests – Joy Davidson. A friendship that becomes a partnership that becomes, inevitably, love, it’s a story that encourages all of us to remain open to the possibility that we still know nothing. Hugh Bonneville is bumbling, endearing and magnificently vulnerable as Lewis, whilst Maggie Siff is a delight throughout, as compelling in her straight-talking introduction as in her yet-hopeful reflections on love and meaning. If Nicholson’s script does her any disservice, it’s that it doesn’t position her as most likely smarter than Lewis – Davidson was a prodigy with an IQ over 150. Siff corrects this small gap in writing, intelligent in every move she makes.
Peter McKintosh’s design is the show’s other standout aspect, incorporating a revolve less flashy than some seen in London’s other theatres, a simple way to utilise the ensemble and bring Oxford to life as Lewis and Davidson walk through its streets. Towering bookcases on all sides create a warm, friendly feel, a space in which we’re very happy to settle into our seats and go along with theological conversations. Occasionally, when the bookcases part, we’re afforded a glimpse into a world only accessible to the childish imagination of Davidson’s young son – a magical wood that Lewis may once have dreamt up.
It’s likely that Nicholson’s play is playing to a more atheist audience than the one for which it was originally written. The point isn’t really whether faith is a pointless exercise or not – the suffering exists all the same, and each of us has to decide how to proceed. For Lewis, he’ll go forward both in grief and love – the choice that most of us will inevitably make, because it’s the only one we can.
Shadowlands is currently playing at the Aldwych Theatre – find tickets here
