C.S. Lewis Further Up & Further In
C.S. Lewis Further Up & Further In written by Max McLean
Directed and Executive Produced by Ken Denison
Scenic Design Kelly James Tighe
Costume Design Michael Bevins
Lighting Design Geoffrey D. Fishburn
Original Music and Sound Design John Gromada
Projections Design Harry Feiner
Associate Projection Design Matt Deinhart
Stage Manager Lew Mead
Fellowship for Performing Arts presents the World Premiere of
C.S. Lewis Further Up & Further In
Written and Performed by Max McLean
Directed by Ken Denison
When I learned I was going to be spending 90 minutes with C.S. Lewis, I was more than a bit wary. My knowledge of him was limited to the Narnia books and this play was going to about his acceptance of Christianity and Christian theology. This was not a topic high on my list of interests. However, C.S. Lewis Further Up & Further In turned out to be a thoroughly engrossing and visually stunning experience.
Max McLean, who wrote the script using Lewis’s words, also performs as Lewis. We are invited into Lewis’s study for the duration of the play, but thanks to the magic of the dazzling background projections of Harry Feiner, we travel all over the cosmos. These incredible projections sometimes illustrate a particular location in one of Lewis’s stories, but often show beautiful artwork and almost hypnotic designs. As Lewis, impeccably dressed by costume designer Michael Bevins, stands in his handsome British study designed by Kelly James Tighe and splendidly lighted by Geoffrey D. Fishburn, he tells the story of his journey from unbeliever to skeptic to Christian.
If this sounds dry, it most certainly is not. Within the first ten minutes of the play, Max McLean and C.S. Lewis become one and the same. McLean’s Lewis is charming, gregarious, avuncular, and exceedingly intelligent. McLean has so internalized Lewis that he makes it almost impossible to separate character from actor. Director Ken Denison knows just the right moment to have McLean move about the set to add emphasis to a scene and the transitions are wonderfully underscored by the haunting music of John Gromada.
For one actor to hold your attention for 90 minutes is a challenge, but McLean makes C.S. Lewis Further Up & Further In compelling theater. He presents Lewis’s beliefs and justification for those beliefs in a profound but relatable manner. There are big, thought-provoking questions raised and answered in this play as we are taken further up and further into the brilliant mind of C.S. Lewis.
