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BackstagePASS >Update
SHOW HELD OVER!!
2 Extra Performances Added
Due to popular demand, and an almost sold out 10-performance run by our opening weekend, we're excited to announce that we are adding two more performances of The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe.
The added dates are:
Listen Up: Q & A with our alumni actors
Missed the preshow lecture last Friday?
Click below to listen online to the engaging conversation with alumni Kaitlin Williams and Mack Gordon in conversation with professor Jan Wood as they discuss their love of theatre, the experiences here at the Phoenix, what they're doing now and their special connection to this play, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
In the press: "...it's safe to say the rest of the audience enjoyed the play just as much as I did."
Here's a run down of what local media and reviewers are saying about The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Watch & Listen:
TV & Radio interviews:
- Adam Sawatsky interview Kaitlin and Mack for CTV Vancouver Island
- CHEK News' Gordie Tupper talks to Kaitlin and Mack
- Indepth interview on CFAX 1070's Eye on the Arts
Times Colonist
"The University of Victoria’s theatre department has opened its season with a pocket-sized stage adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. A family theatre drama with comic elements, it’s an enjoyable 90 minutes...
The performers are engaging. On Thursday, Gordon shone the brightest, bringing a puckish theatrical chutzpah to such characters as Tumnus the faun and Mr. Beaver. Williams was at her best playing the imperious White Witch, who hooks young Edmund Pevensie on Turkish delight like a crafty drug dealer...
Overall, it’s a charming show. Lewis’s rapturous, almost fetishistic descriptions of succulent meals remind us of food shortages suffered by post-war Britain. And the story’s Biblical echoes... give The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe a certain gravitas."
- Read Adrian Chamberlain's full review in the Times Colonist.
- Also read the TC's article: Married theatre grads living their dream
Janis La Couvée
"Situated eight years after the actual events in the Narnia series, it begins as Peter and Lucy come back to their Uncle Digory’s house in the country. Their imaginations take over, and they begin to remember the many adventures they experienced.
With a simple set and minimal staging consisting of a wardrobe, chest, chair and light...Gordon and Williams bring the situations and characters of the story to life turning into fauns and beavers, witches and lions before our very eyes...
On opening night there were audience members as young as eight who remained rapt—captured by the spell of the action onstage—making this an ideal outing for parents and grandparents who are eager to introduce their offspring to live theatre."
CVVMagazine.com
"UVic alumni Kaitlin Williams and Mack Gordon are strong performers, who have an ebullience appropriate for both their characters and their material. ... Their impressions of various creatures and characters are enjoyable, particularly Gordon’s obnoxious version of Edmund and Williams’ performance as Jadis, the evil queen.
The staging and costuming are very clever and well-suited to the nature and subject matter of the show. The coats from the wardrobe are used as costumes... and an indoor lamp doubles as a lamppost when the stage is darkened to recreate the forest. Playful and with the improvisational spirit of children engaged in dress-up..."
The Martlet
"... each of the actors proved their talent. Mack Gordon’s humorous renditions of Mr. and Mrs. Beaver provoked spurts of laughter from the audience and Kaitlin Williams displayed astounding versatility in her performance. Her voice portrayal of the White Witch, in particular, was haunting in its authenticity.
Shifts in location and emotional atmosphere were portrayed to great effect by the warming or cooling of the stage lights ... which sprinkled the production with a hint of magic.
CBC Victoria - On the Island
"I never read it, I never had it read to me... I never saw any of the film versions... So this adaptation happens along and I'm probably the only earthling born after 1950 that has no prior knowledge of this legendary story in this fabled land ... I've been missing out on a hell of good story! It's as good for adults as it is for kids...
If you're a Narnia addict you'll probably love this stage adaptation... Gordon and Williams... met while they were studying theatre (this is so beautiful), at university, at UVic, 10 years ago. They're lively, they're animated. They get it all right.
Gordon is the stronger physical actor, his movement from the weaselly and traitorous brother, and turkish delight fancier, Edmund Pevensie, to the heroic sibling Peter, and then to the faun Mr. Tumnus and the beaver. It's slick, its fun to watch. He's got a great grasp of the little things that each of these characters must have to be instantly recognizable. Williams's best work, his wife, is the domineering and tyranical White Witch. And I like the way both actors tackle Aslan the Lion, sort of back and forth, quite clever.
Nexus Newspaper - Camosun College
"The two actors, Kaitlin Williams and Mack Gordon... encouraged the crowd to use their imagination and executed a meaningful performance, without ever rearranging the set or changing costumes. ...Williams and Gordon put on a great show and I would gladly see it again.
...And judging by the "oohh"s and "aahh"s of the crowd and the nervous tick behind me that faded to a happy tap, it's safe to say the rest of the audience enjoyed the play just as much as I did."
PHOTO CREDITS: Photos by Ron Reed and Michael Julian Berz for Pacific Theatre.
Phoenix eNews is a regular email magazine for those interested in the Phoenix Theatre, the not-for-profit productions at the University of Victoria's Department of Theatre, PO Box 1700, STN CSC, Victoria, BC, V8W2Y2 Canada. The University of Victoria is a Registered Charity. Charitable Registration No. 10816 2470 RR0001
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