Mr Todres, Head of Drama, does it again. He has adapted this 50- year-old novel into fantastic performances at the Merlin Theatre in Frome. This time pupils from Years 7, 8 and 9 were in the spotlight. ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ moved swiftly along with some very clever changes of scenery, special effects and lighting. Peter (Henry Hayford-Taylor), Edmund (Patrick James), Susan (Hannah Ralph) and Lucy (Millie Cope) were the very believable children; they all played their roles to the high standard we have now come to expect from Warminster School drama productions.
Lucy discovers to her amazement that, whilst hiding in the wardrobe, she slips past the fur coats and stumbles into the parallel universe of Narnia. There were some lovely moments when Lucy meets Mr Tumnus (Mark Bennett) and all the children meet the winsome, chattery creatures Mr and Mrs Beaver (Sam Cottle and Lauren Clinch). At that point there wasn’t a child in the audience who wouldn’t have wanted to befriend Lucy and get into the wardrobe with her to share the adventures.
The mood changes as the children soon realise that there is a self-proclaimed Queen that hopes to keep Narnia suspended in eternal winter without Christmas. Edmund encounters The White Witch (Ellie Taylor-Roberts) and the Dark Side of Narnia who tempt him with Turkish Delight in exchange for meeting the other siblings. The White Witch has a position of great power over Narnia – but this is threatened by the return of Aslan the Lion (Morgan Jones) to regain his rightful place. Soon the children discover that they are key participants in this struggle between good and evil and help defeat The White Witch, bringing freedom to Narnia. The White Witch was truly evil and gave spectacular, polished performance. Aslan, the noble lion, had wonderful stage presence and managed to fill the theatre with his majestic voice. I’m sure we will be seeing much more of them. All the characters were entertaining and enchanting and there was some very impressive choreography displayed by the Light Side of Narnia.
With such an enthusiastic cast and great artistic direction from Mr Todres and his team, ‘The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’ truly came to life. The audience at the performances, which took place on Tuesday 12th June and Wednesday 13th June, were captured from beginning to end with this richly detailed production.
