“The Screwtape Letters,” Fellowship for the Performing Arts, Kingsbury Hall, Jan. 28, screwtapeonstage.com
SALT LAKE CITY — Welcome to Screwtape’s office in hell.
In the stage adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ 1942 “The Screwtape Letters,” letters are dictated by a senior devil named Screwtape from an office unlike any other. In this office, the walls are covered in human skulls.
The famed Christian author crafted a series of 31 satirical letters between His Abysmal Sublimity Screwtape to his nephew, Wormwood, a junior “tempter” on earth. Using a reversed-morality view of right-is-wrong/wrong-is-right allegory, Lewis urges readers to take faith seriously. In the correspondence, Screwtape illustrates the fine art of tempting as he makes recommendations on how Wormwood can slowly lure a young Christian away from “the Enemy,” Screwtape’s name for God.
“The safest road to hell,” Screwtape advises, “is the gradual one.”
Max McLean and his colleague Jeffrey Fiske faithfully adapted the novella for this riveting, expertly crafted stage show, and Salt Lake audiences were able to enjoy McLean’s captivating portrayal of Screwtape for two performances at Kingsbury Hall.
An incredibly talented actor, McLean is the play’s sole speaker but is aided by his “secretary” Toadpipe, a name taken from Lewis’ book but an invention for the play. Toadpipe is a mystical creation, with a similar role to Ariel in Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” in a reptilian pitch-black costume sprouting brilliantly hued red and yellow feathers. Played by Beckley Andrews, Toadpipe offers sporadic comedic relief. The actor crawls on the floor and climbs up and down a contorted ladder to deliver the epistles, using a plastic chute like you'd see at a drive-through bank, and wordlessly enacts the stories of temptation.
The mood is further lightened with McLean’s contemporary additions. Screwtape explains that “almost every film star and pop singer” is destined to join him in hell. Relaxing on his gold-leafed baroque chair while a letter is sent off, Screwtape takes a moment to enjoy a glossy, coffee-table picture book of that single-named, Michigan-born songster who now speaks with a British accent.
Although eloquently persuasive, Screwtape slowly descends into madness as his frustrations with Wormwood grow with each new unheeded letter.
There’s a brief scene at the beginning of the play set at the annual graduation of the Tempters’ Training College for Young Devils, taken from Lewis’ sequel, “Screwtape Proposes a Toast.” The after-dinner speech provides a bit of an introduction to Screwtape, but it’s recommended before seeing this stage version that there’s at least a good understanding of “The Screwtape Letters,” if the book can’t be read in its entirety. Audience members quickly understand that they will have to work hard to keep up, but are deeply rewarded when they do.
It’s interesting to note that the initial production of this play opened off-off-Broadway in 2006, scheduled for only three weeks. The run was extended to 11 weeks, until forced to close by another show that contracted the theater. An expanded production opened the following year, and the national tour is now on stops through the country. The production company, the Fellowship for the Performing Arts, has a mission statement to create theater from a "Christian worldview that engages a diverse audience."
Critics have contended that “The Screwtape Letters,” with its epistolary construction and limited action, cannot be adapted. But this production is one step toward proving those critics wrong. All arguments may end, however, when a cinematic version is made. Ralph Winter, credited with the success of the "Chronicles of Narnia" film series, has again teamed with 20th Century Fox and Walden Media to produce a big-screen “Screwtape Letters.”