An epic Narnia adventure

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, November 15th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

This week, a theatrical adaptation from the Chronicles of Narnia saga opens for a two-week run at the Ark Encounter in Kentucky. Before the show hit the road, The Horse and His Boy completed a short tour of its home base in South Carolina. WORLD’s Bekah McCallum attended a performance and has this review.

BEKAH McCALLUM: Christian theater groups aren’t always known for their technically excellent productions. And it’s a rare troupe whose family-friendly shows attract fans from hundreds of miles away.

AUDIO: [Sound of crowd in theater]

Located a few miles outside of Greenville, South Carolina, Logos Theater has cornered the market on both.

On a Thursday morning in October, about 300 people arrived for a morning showing of The Horse and His Boy from The Chronicles of Narnia series.

The Horse and His Boy is set a few years after the events of The Lion the Witch and The Wardrobe. The Pevensies rule as kings and queens in Narnia, but far away lies the land of Calormen which is ruled by the evil Tisroc. It’s up to an unlikely character to stand up to him.

NARRATOR: In those days, far south in Calormen, on a little creek of the sea, there lived a poor fisherman called Ashish. And with him, there lived a boy who called him father. The boy’s name was Shasta.

When his adoptive father threatens to sell the boy into slavery, Shasta runs away with a talking horse named Bree. On the road, they meet a teenage aristocrat named Aravis. She’s traveling with Hwin, also a talking horse.

After bumping into a few of the Pevensies and learning about a plot that will endanger one of Narnia’s allies, the travelers speed off to get help. The story teaches clearly the Christian doctrines of repentance and God’s providence…as apparent misfortunes help the characters develop.

PERFORMANCE: But I did change, honestly I did! When you went back, faced that lion. It wasn’t going to kill you at all really, that lion. I’ve met him. I know, so have I.

The Horse and His Boy is not the first play set in Narnia that Logos has produced. Executive director Noah Stratton…

STRATTON: Our goal is to do all seven. So we've done Prince Caspian, we've done The Horse and His Boy, we did a version of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe a number of years ago.

But, this play involves more puppets than previous Logos productions. There are puppets for Aslan, Hwin, Bree, and a few other minor characters. Bree’s puppet is about the size of a Clydesdale draft horse. Two puppeteers operate the inside. Another guides the head from behind. Theater puppet master Justin Swain.

SWAIN: But then you get into three separate people, strap them into a giant horse puppet and say all right walk stage right and it's like one like and they go all over the place it looks like a newborn giraffe right so it just takes a lot of coordination with all those people to get them to all work together.

That coordination is especially important when the actors mount the puppets and ride across the stage. And even though I knew there were puppeteers controlling the characters, they effectively blend into the background of the story.

I was struck by Logos’ commitment to vivid storytelling. The stage itself is outfitted with a 22-foot diameter turntable, fog machines, and full-scale set pieces like the palm trees that open like beach umbrellas.

In some scenes, characters swing from ropes, fight with actual swords, and eat real food. Despite having so many moving parts, the show doesn’t have a traditional support crew.

STRATTON: Yeah, so we don't have almost anyone backstage. Almost everybody is the actors. We are moving the sets. We are, there's maybe two back there that aren’t in the production.

Before coming to see the life-like puppets and dazzling set, families should know about the show’s 3-hr run time. Its length is partially due to extended flashbacks not in the book.

PERFORMANCE: And I swore him to be secret, and I begged him to write a certain letter for me. Oh, and he wept and implored me to change my resolution. Change your resolution!

Purists may balk at the insertions, but some of the added scenes do clarify a few of the more vague parts of the original story. Narnia fans might also be disappointed with how the play opens…the foreshadowing is not in the book and is something of a spoiler.

PERFORMANCE: I see much in the eyes of this child. The day will come when this boy will save Aarkenland from the deadliest danger in which ever she lay.

The play also emphasizes Aslan as a picture of Christ much more than the book.

ASLAN: Dear daughter, I knew you would not be long in coming to me.

One character even offers a brief prayer to the lion which could be confusing to some younger viewers. It might warrant a conversation about how Aslan is a picture of Christ but not actually Christ himself. Since it first premiered in 2019, the play has worked to highlight the allegory.

JUSTIN SWAIN: Specifically in his hands, he has nail pierced wounds to tie into the allegory of who he represents. We really wanted to make a very profound statement with those. We actually added in modeled scars into the feet.

To bring out the theme even more, artistic director Nicole Stratton recently changed a scene that used to be just a conversation between Shasta and Aslan. Videographer Matt Hainsworth…

HAINSWORTH: Last year, Nicole had the idea to take the smaller lion that we call scrappy, the smaller lion, and show everything that they're talking about. And so being able to see everything as an example of, “Oh, I was the lion here, I was the lion there, I was the one taking care of you the whole time,” and it's such an awesome picture of Christ.

The Logos Theater production of The Horse and His Boy at the Ark Encounter runs through November 23.

I’m Bekah McCallum.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.