The Gown – student newspaper at Queen's University Belfast.

REVIEW: The Screwtape Letters

Queen’s University Players put on a hell raising performance of ‘The Screwtape Letters’ adapted for the stage by Nigel Forde from the novel by C.S. Lewis. Starring Shiraz Engineer as the cunning Screwtape and directed by the watchful eyes of Nathan Duddy and Shalom Joy Carr. The tale depicts the rise and fall of the senior devil Screwtape, whilst following the antics of her two newest students who although have much to learn, end up teaching Screwtape a lesson. Not only a truly hilarious play, it delves deeper by exploring the timeless battle of good V evil.

BY CLAIRE WILLIAMSON

The staging was simple but effective, with nothing but a simple black backdrop, and basic props, with the main focus being the action on the stage. The characters were divided into two camps: The church goers and the evil devils. Not only did they have contrasting dialogue and dialect, there were subtle hints with regards to costumes. The ‘evil’ characters were dressed with rich red and black, colours which denotes the devil and hell, and the metaphorical aspect of the fiery flames. The ‘church goers’ were dressed with traditional English war time dress, which convincingly contrasted with the ‘evil’ characters. The use of expression through colour was very effective, and viewed against the black backdrop highlighted all of the above aspects.

The lack of scenery changes kept the production running smoothly, with no delay, apart from perhaps the moving of a table or sofa. This was effective, as I feel that if the play been interrupted by scene changes it would have lost the flow and the energy that it carried throughout. However, with such a simplistic set, the correct use of lighting was crucial. This was handled well, with different parts of the stage being lit at different times to draw the audience’s attention, and the use of red lighting at the end when Screwtape delivers her final monologue. Lastly, the eerie music that permeated the play was the old hymn, ‘Immortal, Invisible,’ which was filled with dissonance, creating a real feeling of unease and as it was recurring it remained in our heads as we left.

‘The Screwtape Letters’ is a wickedly fun ride which captured enthralled and haunted all at the same time.

Tags: Claire Williamson, Gown, newspaper, qub, Queen's, queen's university, student, The Gown, The Screwtape Letters

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 11th, 2010 at 3:10 pm and is filed under Arts + Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.