Young Company presents ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’

Written By Constance Scrafield 

If your sister told you after the fact that she had discovered a whole wintery country inside the Wardrobe of an almost barren room, except for a clock, in the Professor's huge mansion, where you were living temporarily, would you believe her? The premise of C.S. Lewis's timeless work, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe is that Lucy's three siblings, Edmund, Peter and Susan do not believe her story of talking animals, mythical creatures and unending winter. Soon enough, they discover for themselves her stories are true and that their own stories are only beginning in this adventure of fear, fighting, betrayal, a very wicked Witch, called the Snow Queen, and a benevolent Lion who teaches them bravery and the value of the truth.

This production is on at Theatre Orangeville over the weekend of Aug. 23 to 25.

The Citizen sat down with the cast of 12 members of Young Company Drama this week to chat about how they see the play and themselves within it. There were many interesting answers to those questions.

First, though, a quick introduction to the story, as we were told, “The four siblings find their way into Narnia with the Wicked Witch. They discover they are destined to bring peace to the land of Narnia and throughout the play, they have to fight with the characters in Narnia.”

Teaching them, fight instructor Ian Walsh has been coming to Theatre Orangeville to help young actors learn how to do battle safely on stage for several productions over the years.

The Lion, we learned, is the overseer of the land, a folk hero.

A warm welcome back to Duncan Lang, whose performance as Jean Valjean in Les Mis with Young Company Musical, being driven back and forth between Orangeville and Newmarket every day for the summer of 2017 and subsequent years, may well have launched his determination to follow a career in theatre.

Mr. Lang is in town for his directorial debut with this tremendous show.

Asked how well the rehearsals were going, he was very enthusiastic about the level of talent and quick uptake of the cast, with some very difficult characters to play.

He said, “It's so fulfilling to me to watch this cast get into their characters. Sometimes, that's hard but these talented kids are so consistent – it's just amazing.”

Sophie told us that she has played the parts of villains but in her role as Susan, “this is soft,” she said. “It was a little hard but this is a different way to connect to the role.”

One commented that as they are not tall, they have played softer roles but in this production, they are required to be an imposing figure.

With some satisfaction, they informed us, “It's fun to be an imposing figure, such a difference – I've learned I can play a more imposing role.”

This is the sixth time for Jack who always loves working with the Young Company casts, with such talented people. He admitted that he was acting out of his comfort zone in the role of Edmund, who is dishonest and, at first, betrays his sister and seeks power for himself.

“And we have an amazing director – there are so many of us coming together,” Jack said. He added that a lot of times with other characters, when the role is a challenge, “You can stretch and do it right.”

Simon told us straight up, “I play a villain character, strict and mean. So evil.”

About why we should come to see Young Company's The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, they had plenty of reasons.

What is great about this story is the strange, fearsome, kindly, odd and amazing characters themselves; many of these actors have more than one role to play.

“This is one of the most popular book series,” as someone observed, “and this is the live version of it.”

With the mix of unusual characters, there is a lot of “really good emotion, very intense with fight scenes that will keep you on the edge of your seat.”

Good against evil in a magical land, perhaps strangely, brings many messages and life lessons.

“The costumes are really cool, they are very interesting costumes.” 

The Theatre Orangeville website also offers, “This dramatization of C.S. Lewis's classic work faithfully recreates the magic and mystery of Aslan, the great lion, his struggle with the White Witch, and the adventures of four children who inadvertently wander from an old wardrobe into the exciting, never-to-be-forgotten Narnia.” 

To bring to life the abstract of the show is to come into an interesting space. 

They agreed for sure: “There's wisdom in this show.”

Young Company's production of The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe is on the main stage of the theatre over the weekend of Aug. 23 to 25. For details and tickets, go to www.theatreorangeville.ca, call the Box Office at 519-942-3423 or visit the Box Office at 87 Broadway, the Opera House.