A theatrical adaptation of the C.S. Lewis novel The Screwtape Letters returns to the Touhill this weekend. When the play was first performed in St. Louis in 2010, director and co-author Max McLean performed the role of the demon Screwtape. The role is now performed by Brent Harris.
"He has a lot of experience playing evil characters," said McLean of Harris. "Macbeth, Iago, Scar from the Lion King."
With three motion pictures and more than 100 million copies of The Chronicles of Narnia sold, the 20th century Christian author and novelist C.S. Lewis has joined the ranks of such British greats as Shakespeare and Dickens in the minds of many. In addition to the allegorical children's novels for which he is most well-known, Lewis wrote treaties on the Christian faith (Mere Christianity) and other novels (The Screwtape Letters, Out of the Silent Planet).
"Lewis was a very clever writer, very witty in almost all his works, I think," said McLean. "In The Screwtape Letters...he creates this morally inverted universe, where up is down, good is bad, God is called the Enemy, Satan is called Our Father Below, and Screwtape is a very high-ranking official in charge of temptation. He really understands human nature."
"Lewis had this sense - he does believe that the Christian worldview will lead in the end to unspeakable joy. He says that in Mere Christianity. But not right away. As he would say, you have to face facts about yourself. When you know you're sick, he would say, you'll listen to the doctor," added McLean.
Related Event
Fellowship for the Performing Arts Presents "The Screwtape Letters"
Saturday, December 7, 2013
4:00 and 8:00 p.m.
UMSL's Touhill Performing Arts Center
For more information, call 314-516-4949 or visit the Touhill Performing Arts Center website.
Cityscape is produced by Mary Edwards and Alex Heuer, hosted by Steve Potter and funded in part by the Arts and Education Council of Greater St. Louis, the Regional Arts Commission and the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency.
