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THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE

THE PLAY

Who is C.S. Lewis?

Clive Staples Lewis (1898 to 1963) was a British novelist, poet, academic and critic - and arguable one of the most influential writers of his day. He taught at Magdalen College, Oxford University (1925 to 1954) and Magdalene College, Cambridge University (1954 to 1963) where he was elected Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature. At Oxford, he was close friends with J.R.R. Tolkien and they were part of a literary group known as the Inklings. Although he fell away from the Church as a young man, he returned to the Anglican Church in his early 30s and his faith was a great influence of many of his subsequent writings including Mere Christianity, Miracles and The Problem of Pain. He wrote more than 30 books including Mere Christianity, The Great Divorce, The Screwtape Letters, and the acknowledged classics in The Chronicles of Narnia. To date, the Narnia books have sold over 100 million copies and been transformed into three major motion pictures. In 2013, on the 50th anniversary of his death, Lewis was commemorated with a memorial in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey.

The Pevensie Children

PETER – aged about 13
He is the eldest of the 4 children. He displays bravery, good judgment and sound leadership. He becomes known as Peter the Magnificent.

SUSAN – aged about 12
She is the second eldest of the 4 children. She is beautiful, kind and sweet and become known as Susan the Good. 

EDMUND – aged about 10
The next-to-youngest of the 4 children. He is a bit of a brat. He makes friends with the White Witch and betrays his siblings – eventually recognizing the error of his ways. He becomes known as Edmund the Just.

LUCY – aged about 9
The youngest of the 4 children. Lucy is adventurous, trusting, cheerful and brave. She discovers the land of Narnia and becomes known as Lucy the Valiant.

At the Professor's House

PROFESSOR KIRK
A rather eccentric man who shelters the children during the war. He is wise, kind and believes in Narnia.

Mrs. MACREADY - the housekeeper

Ivy, Margaret and Betty - servants

Sightseers

In Narnia

Mr. TUMNUS - a faun
He befriends Lucy and saves her and her siblings from the White Witch. 

TROLL

The White WITCH
The evil, self-proclaimed ruler of Narnia and Aslan’s nemesis.

Mr. and Mrs. BEAVER

MAUGRIM - a wolf, head of the Witch’s Secret Police

Father CHRISTMAS

ASLAN 
A noble lion. He is the all-powerful ruler of Narnia. He returns to defeat the White Witch.

Giant RUMBLEMUFFIN

WOLF - the Witch’s messenger

Other Creatures in Narnia

REINDEER

SQUIRRELS

DRYADS

NAIADS

CENTAURS

UNICORN

EAGLE

LEOPARDS

DEER

The Witch’s CREATURES

STATUES

LION

The Story at Warp Speed

On a September night in 1939, the Pevensie children - Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy - board a train from London to the English countryside to escape the air raids. They arrive at the country house of Professor Kirk. One day while exploring their new home, the children come across a bare room containing only a wardrobe. Beyond the racks of fur coats Lucy discovers Narnia, a magical land that has been overtaken by a White Witch and cast into a permanent state of winter.

Lucy tries to tell her siblings what she's found, but they don't believe her - until Edmund follows her into the wardrobe during a game of hide and seek. He has only just arrived in Narnia when he encounters the White Witch. Knowing that the reign of humans has been foretold in a prophesy, the Witch uses candy - Turkish delight - to entice Edmund to lead his brother and sisters to her.

Back at the house, Edmund pretends that Lucy has imagined Narnia. But when the children duck into the wardrobe to evade a group of adults, Peter and Susan learn the truth. The siblings are soon befriended by two Beavers who tell them that they are to meet Aslan, the great Lion and King of the wood. It is only after they reveal their destination - the Stone Table - that they realize Edmund has slipped away to find the White Witch. The group quickly prepare for their journey and meet Aslan as planned. Knowing that Edmund is in danger, they tell the Lion of his betrayal. Aslan must negotiate with the Witch before she will spare Edmund's life. When she does, there is no time to celebrate: Aslan's followers must prepare to go to war with the Witch and her ghastly crew.

That night, Susan and Lucy find Aslan walking alone outside the camp. He has traded his life for Edmund's, and on the Stone Table he perishes by the Witch's blade. At sunrise, the Stone Table breaks in half with a loud noise and Aslan is miraculously resurrected. He explains that there is another magic, deeper than the one the Witch knows, a magic from before the dawn of time. It allows the one who dies in the place of a traitor to come back to life. Aslan is able to reverse the effects of the Witch's magic and the tide of battle turns for the Good. Aslan kills the Witch.

Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy are crowned as kings and queens of Narnia. They rule Narnia fairly for many years, until one day, as they hunt for the White Stag in the Western Wood, they come upon a lamp-post. As they go further into the woods, they find themselves back in the wardrobe, and then back in the spare room in the country house. No time has passed in England since they first entered Narnia together, and they are children again.

Sources and Origins

The first of seven novels published (1950) in The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was written by C.S. Lewis.

In an essay in Of Other Worlds, Lewis said that he had a picture in his head from his teenaged years that led to the development of the novel. "The Lion all began with a picture of a Faun carrying an umbrella and parcels in a snowy wood. This picture had been in my mind since I was about sixteen. Then one day, when I was about forty, I said to myself: 'Let's try to make a story about it.'"

Three school girls were evacuated from London during the early years of the Second World War and stayed at Lewis's home in Risinghurst outside of Oxford. At that time, he began a book featuring children, but did not complete it. By the late 1940s, he started again, and later said in Of Other Worlds: "At first I had very little idea how the story would go. But then suddenly Aslan came bounding into it. I think I had been having a good many dreams of lions about that time. Apart from that, I don't know where the Lion came from or why he came. But once he was there, he pulled the whole story together, and soon he pulled the six other Narnian stories in after him."  

Stage History

This version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was written by Adrian Mitchell and premièred by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1998. This is the première of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe at the Stratford Festival.

Themes and Motifs

  • Tolerance
  • Growing up (maturation, adulthood)
  • Moral choices
  • Identity/self
  • Facing your fears
  • WWII-era England
  • Magic
  • Heroes and villains
  • Loyalty
  • The nature of good and evil
  • The nature of sacrifice
  • Courage
  • Forgiveness
  • Temptation
  • Christianity

THE PRODUCTION

Behind the Scenes

A selection of behind the scenes photos from this season's production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

LESSON PLANS

Character Cast Party

In this lesson, students role play and use dramatic play to familiarize themselves with the characters in the play.

Click here to access the handout for this lesson plan.

Courage

In this lesson, the students will analyze courageous moments in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and reflect on moments of courage in their own lives.

The Ball Game

In this activity, the students will be given an introduction to the world of the play through individual words. This is an easy, non-threatening opportunity to play, collaborate and communicate.

Click here to access the handout for this activity.

Classroom Activities

In these activities, students will explore the world of fantasy and how authors use fantastical settings and characters to teach life lessons.

THE PLACE

When the railway industry pulled out of Stratford in the early 1950s, journalist Tom Patterson had an idea for breathing new life into his native city’s economy: a festival of Shakespearean theatre.

 His vision won the support of Stratford City Council and an enthusiastic committee of citizens, and also of the legendary British actor and director Tyrone Guthrie, who agreed to become the festival’s first Artistic Director. 

In the fall of 1952, work began in earnest to launch the Stratford Festival the following summer. A giant canvas tent was ordered from Chicago, and in the parklands by the Avon River, work began on a concrete amphitheatre at the centre of which would be a revolutionary thrust stage, created by renowned theatrical designer Tanya Moiseiwitsch. 

From the balcony of the thrust stage, on July 13, 1953, actor Alec Guinness spoke the opening lines of Richard III. Those words marked the beginning of an astonishing new chapter in Canadian theatre history. 


The Stratford Adventure

This 1954 Oscar-nominated film follows the founding of the Festival: how the idea grew, how a famous British director, international stars and Canadian talent were recruited, and how the Festival finally became a triumphant reality.